


The Strumming of Heartstrings

by superevilbadguy



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Bar/Band AU, College student!Diana, Developing Relationship, F/F, First Date, First two parts originally posted on tumblr, Fluff and Humor, Friendship/Love, Meeting, Musician!Akko, Original song lyrics, hanbara are best wingwomen, romantic guitar playing, so much for a one shot... lol, yup... i write music and lyrics as well... whether its good or not is up to you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-25 15:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 28,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19748542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superevilbadguy/pseuds/superevilbadguy
Summary: Diakko Bar/Band AU fic - To celebrate the end of finals and friends being back in the area, Barbara and Hannah bring Diana to a bar that just so happens to be hosting a live music night. Diana finds herself intrigued by the energetic guitarist of The Broomstix but initially thinks nothing of it, that is, until she finds herself beside her ordering a drink. She didn’t think much of what the night was going to bring, but she finds that she is pleasantly surprised. (FIRST 2/3 PARTS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON TUMBLR...)





	1. Part 1 (Bar/Band - The "One-Shot")

**Author's Note:**

> So this is ALSO KNOWN AS my Bar/Band AU one-shot turned two-shot that I had posted on Tumblr in January and March of 2018...  
> So... after a bit more than a year hiatus from it (See:Bats and Brooms), I've decided to add one last part which will hopefully be uploaded within the next two weeks!
> 
> For anyone who has read the first two parts through Tumblr already, I HAVE gone back and rewritten/edited a few thing simply because my quality of writing has evolved since their initial posting... so... if you decide to read again (which has no change in plot, events, or art), I HOPE YOU STILL LIKE IT!!!
> 
> As stated (somewhere I think?) on Tumblr, all lyrics are my originals, so... yeah... ENJOY!

“It should be right down this way.” Hannah points down the streetlight bathed sidewalk, turning back to check on the two girls following behind her. 

Diana, whose hand was currently being led by a very excited, _very cold_ , and debatably under-dressed Barbara, was unfamiliar with the bar she and her friends had been invited to. But now that her first year of medical school finals have ended for the semester, much to Hannah and Barbara’s excitement, she figured a few drinks and a change of scenery from their apartment wouldn’t hurt.

This was not really her definition of a Friday night well spent, but Hannah and Barbara looked so thrilled about the plan when they asked if she would like to join. She didn’t have the heart to decline, nor did she have a good enough excuse to. 

If nothing else, the night does offer a nice opportunity to see her old friends from high school. While Avery still came over to meet up with Hannah and Barbara every once in a while, she hadn’t seen Mary or Blair since graduation. 

And... if she was going to be perfectly honest with herself...she was secretly a little excited about the fact that this would be the first time going out to get drinks since she had turned of age. Sure she’s had the occasional beer or a shot of something or other with the girls at home, but there’s just something different about drinking in a desk chair than out with company... so she’s been told. 

“Avery says she found Mary and Blair over by the bar.” Hannah says looking down at her phone. “They said they’re buying first round.”

“Th-that’s nice…” Barbara shivers noticeably as she quickens her step, Diana having no choice but to keep up. “Hey Hannah, how close are we?”

“Should be right over here I think. I remember passing it down this way.” She turns back to see Barbara, then grabs at her free arm and rubs it in an attempt to keep her warm. “Why didn’t you bring a jacket?”

“It wasn’t going to look nice with the dress!” She clenches her arms closer to her body, both Hannah and Diana squeezing in closely next to her. 

“Who are you trying to look so nice for anyway?” Hannah looks over, eyebrows raised.

“I don’t know!” The raven-haired girl blushes lightly. “Ooh! Is that it?” Teal eyes widen excitedly as she pulls the two towards the door- the words ‘Moonburst’ scrawled onto it shine bright green into the cold December night. Hannah reaches the door first, grabbing the handle and pulling it open as Diana and Barbara rush in.

They walk into the bar, immediately welcomed by the sound of live music and a bouncer looking for IDs.

The room has dark walls adorned with signed instruments and photographs, wooden flooring matching the bar tops, as well as a large stage taking up a majority of wall opposing the bar. A large crowd of people surround the stage as the current band plays a song Diana recognizes as one she had heard playing on the radio.

As they move through the crowd looking for the other girls, the sound of feedback arrests their ears followed by a sudden lack of guitar. Diana turns to face the lighted stage seeing the guitarist- a young girl, around her age, with a brown half ponytail, red tee and denim jacket push herself up off the ground, unwrap the cord from around her foot, and rush to the amplifier fumbling to plug herself back into the sound system. The rest of the band, a collection of three other girls, look over to her with concern and… not a shred of surprise. 

The guitarist turns around nervously, a contagious smile stretched across her face, before resuming her playing at the start of the next measure. The singer, a girl with two toned pink and orange hair, looks over to her with a raised brow, to which she responds with a shrug and a blush.

Diana turns back to her friends to find Hannah waving to the girls at the other end of the bar. She takes one last look at the girl onstage who is now studying her feet, hyperaware of the cords running along the ground, and then follows her friends through the crowd. 

Once they get to the other end of the bar they are immediately enveloped into a six-woman group hug. Once the hug ends and the excited hellos fade, the girls order their drinks and start catching up over the happenings of the last few years.

The conversation comes naturally, rolling from girl to girl as anecdotes fill the air between them only to take respite to bouts of laughter. They talk about family, old classmates, flings, and university among the general small talk. Every passing story results in more alcohol fueled laughter than the last. Diana herself had begun feeling the effect of her drink after only half a glass, her comfort growing around the girls she hadn’t seen in years.

As Blair descends into a fit of giggles and snorts over the story she had started to tell, Diana takes a look back towards the band on stage as they continue to perform. Just by looking at them, she could tell they were definitely experienced and accustomed to playing in front of a crowd. Though the music was not really her taste, she can appreciate that the nerves that would wrack a new performer were nowhere to be seen.

The guitarist looked as though any caution from the accident earlier was abandoned as she spins and jumps while playing, her small ponytail slowly coming undone with each wild bob of her head. The singer, clearly comfortable standing front and center, dances around with the mic stand when not carrying the rhythm with her bass. The redheaded keyboardist standing near the back sways with the music but keeps herself composed, contrasting to the pinkish haired drummer who moves fluidly and passionately with every hit of her drumstick.

Despite a few instrumental errors, Diana thought they were honestly pretty good. Each song they covered kept relatively true to the original artist’s version, adding for the most part, a tasteful amount of personality to make it their own.

“You’ve been such a sick crowd tonight!” The singer calls out into the microphone as the crowd lightly cheers at the finish of their song. “Our time is almost up…” she takes a moment to catch her breath, “So, we’re going to finish up tonight with a little something you haven’t heard on the radio.” She looks over to the guitarist who was quickly re-tuning her guitar after the last song. She takes a quick exhale and quickly nods to the singer.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your ears! We are The Broomstix and this, for the first time ever, is _Afterimage_ …”

The guitarist starts to pick at the strings of her instrument creating a light melody carefully watching her fingers before glancing up at the singer. The singer, with a nod and a deep breath, steps up to the microphone, taking the stand in her hands.

_“I was blinded by your light_

_Moments after I saw you. I see_

_What my heart believes_

_That I am meant to be.”_

The light sounding guitar turns heavy with the stomp of a pedal, renewing the energy alongside the introduction of a steady drum beat, thrumming bass, and a keyboard dripping with effect.

_“Millenia pass, as it seems it,_

_Since we’ve said a word._

_If we’ve said a word, I might not have heard,_

_I could have been listening to a feeling.”_

Diana notes that this was a very different sound to what they had been playing earlier in the night, a welcome variation in her opinion. Though, another difference she noticed is that the previously energetic girl with the ponytail now wore a new expression... 

_Is she… nervous?_

“Diana? You okay? Hellooo?”

She snaps her attention back to her friends to see Hannah in particular, looking at her as concerned as a girl three drinks in could.

“I-I’m sorry, I must have been zoning out.” She giggles, referencing to her nearly empty glass. “I guess my tolerance hasn’t been built yet.” 

Hannah giggles, “Just wanted to make sure…” slurring her words. She looks backwards towards the stage. “Heh heh… were you looking at the singer?? Mmmm I wouldn’t mind getting to know her a little better… 

Suddenly their attention turns to Barbara as she drunkenly screams Hannah’s name… and… is crying...?

The girls dive back into conversation, Diana’s ears however, were still trained on the song being played behind her.

The chorus rang through the speakers, a little muffled due to the volume of the instruments being played.

_“I was blinded by your light, igniting the path I’m meant to lead._

_I’m strengthened by your afterimage staring back at me._

_I was blinded by your light, and the shining is what keeps me believing,_

_That even though you’re gone, I’ll find our home waiting there. You’ll see. You’ll see.”_

Listening to the lyrics the best she could, she sensed a warm familiarity to what the song seemed to be portraying. Her mind involuntarily wanders back to memories of her mother. 

Before her passing, her mother had been a critical care doctor. By some tragic accident she had been stuck by a contaminated needle containing a sample of a fatal blood illness which, over time, eventually took her life. During the time she was sick, however, she continued to work where the hospital would allow her. However, at the point where she had gotten too sick to go to work, she had told Diana that the reason she had worked as long as she did was because there were still those she could make a difference for. There was a part of her life that will carry on in those she was able to send home, even if she may not get the chance to see their discharge. 

Her mother’s passion for what she did with her life inspired Diana to pursue medical school, igniting the desire to make a difference in someone’s time of need. There is little more she wishes for than to fill the white coat and scrubs her mother had left behind.

Suddenly Diana shakes her head and snaps back into reality. ‘ _My goodness is this the drink?_ She returns her attention back to her friends still enveloped in conversation, the song continuing in the background holds her warmly, clenching her chest.

_“I don’t know where you are,_

_or if this path you still do follow._

_I swear I’ll find the words_

_to say to you for this dream I’ve borrowed._

_Some of the stars we see in the night sky_

_are long since gone, I’m told._

_They say it’s time has passed, but it’s still shining._

_Our story’s not fully told.”_

She couldn’t really place what it was she was feeling. It was a beautiful mixture of joy and melancholy. She felt… validated… somehow. Having found something unexpectedly that reflects something so close to her heart. Or maybe her reaction to alcohol was just her getting overemotional…

She looks over to Barbara who had gone from crying to hysterical laughing in less than 15 seconds and it had her a little worried as to what she would think of her own behavior if she were not lightly intoxicated. She thinks Hannah would have taken record of any outstanding incident, so since she has yet to see her pull out her phone she figures she’s been sound so far.

_“…even though you’re gone, I’ll find our home. In my heart I believe._

_In my heart I believe…”_

The song ends with the guitar fading out after one final crash of the cymbals. The crowd applauds as the musicians take a bow before moving their gear off the stage, making way for the next band.

A short time later, amidst the chatter of her friends, Diana finishes the last of her drink and stifles a giggle as Barbara tries to clap her on the back (ended up being a light stroke on her shoulder), while congratulating her on her first drink.

“Go! Go get another!!” Barbara slurs excitedly pushing Diana clean through the center of the group circle. She apologizes profusely to Blair whom she was pushed right into, but only receives a slightly too strong hug from the girl before being urged to get another drink.

Dodging her way through the crowd surrounding the bar, she notices the girls from the band standing in a small grouping midway between the bar and the stage. She sees the singer grinning as she traps the girl with the ponytail in a headlock. When she is released the two bump fists as the redhead keyboardist pushes the drummer (who was surprisingly much less enthusiastic than she had been on stage) towards the other two into a group hug. An involuntary smile crosses Diana’s lips before she ducks through one last group of people, reaching the bar and getting herself in position to order.

She racks her brain thinking of what drinks she knew of that she knew she liked. Whatever Avery had ordered for her before was pretty good... 

_What was it? A Shiny Volley?_

The bartender comes up to her with a raised brow and she orders the ‘Shiny Volley’, it seems that was a correct drink name because he simply gives her a thumbs-up and spins around towards the lines of liquor to make her drink.

As she waits for her drink, a person steps up to the bar beside her attempting to grab the attention of the other bartender. Due to the close proximity, Diana turns to acknowledge the presence of the person beside her and sees the girl with the (now re-tied and neat) ponytail leaning politely over the bar.

“Okay, what can I get you?” The bartender asks.

“Can I get a-” The girl with the ponytail wilts as the bartender walks past her towards another girl further down the bar. 

Diana lets out a giggle. Much to her horror, the girl with the ponytail hears her and turns to face her. For a moment she looked like she was aware of the humor of what just happened, but that expression quickly fled to make way for the blood to fill her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. I-”

“It’s okay, really. It’s not the first time it’s happened. I’ll get him eventually.” The girl laughs at herself rubbing the back of her neck and looking away. 

“I saw you on stage. Your band is very good.” 

_What are you doing Diana?_

This was new. Starting small talk with strangers was not really something Diana was used to, or comfortable with for that matter. However, it seems something about this girl had taken her interest. Or maybe it’s the… alcohol?

The girl with the ponytail laughs, trying to look in any direction but in the one of the girl speaking to her. “Th-thank you. We’re still a little new to playing out in big places... so I hope you liked the show.” 

The bartender returns, sliding Diana’s drink towards her and telling her the price. 

“Actually, I’d like to buy this woman’s drink as well, please.” Diana gestures over to the girl beside her, who is now looking confusedly between the blonde and the bartender. 

“What’ll you have?” he asks, turning towards he other girl as he reaches for a glass.

“I-um. Are you sure? I mean?” the girl stutters, her red eyes swirling with confusion. Diana simply smiles and nods. “Uh-um I’ll uh. I’ll have a Finnelan on tap please.” 

“Coming right up.” The bartender takes the glass and moves down the bar.

The girl looks over at Diana with a flurry of emotions cycling through her features. “Why’d you do that? Let me pay you back.” She begins digging through her pockets.

Diana smiles at her, “No, please. Think of it as me paying to see your band’s performance.”

The girl pauses and looks up at her, “That’s really not necessary...Are you really sure?”

The bartender sets the beer down in front of her as Diana passes over a bill with a smile.

“Thank you…” the brunette says through a shy smile. “Um...can I get your name?”

Diana sits in surprise for a moment, trying to figure out why she hadn’t introduced herself BEFORE she insisted on buying this stranger’s drink. “Oh, my apologies. How rude of me. I’m Diana.” She smiles. “May I get your name?”

“Diana.” The girl repeats to herself quietly. “Uh, I’m Atsu- Akko! Call me Akko. Th-thank you for the drink Diana.” She smiles nervously before turning to her drink.

They sit quietly for a moment as Akko takes a large gulp of her beer. Diana follows suit, taking a sip of her mixed drink and quickly realizing that it is not what she had been drinking earlier...it wasn’t bad.

“So, Diana.” Akko says clearing her throat, allowing a moment to compose herself as the blonde turns towards her. “What brings you here tonight? Do you know any of the other bands?”

Diana shakes her head as she swallows. “No. Some friends from high school were getting together and decided to meet up here.” She looks over her shoulder at her friends before turning back to the red eyes that followed her gaze. “It’s a nice bar, though a little loud for catching up.”

Akko nods her head in understanding. “It’s actually usually pretty laid back, but on the nights when the bands play it gets uh…loud…er...” 

_Duh! C’mon Akko!_ The brunette mentally slaps herself.

“Does your band play here often?” Diana asks, breaking Akko out of her awkward introspection.

“Uh. I wouldn’t say often…” she scratches her jaw before turning and pointing to the rest of her band. “Amanda, um, our lead singer… she is actually in another band with some of the staff here and they ended up getting us a spot. So, this is Lotte, Sucy, and my first time performing here, but we’ve seen tons of shows.” 

“Do you enjoy performing? You looked very comf-“ 

“It’s the best feeling in the world!” Akko bursts throwing her head back.

Diana is a little taken back by the excitement of the girl, but can’t help but let out a light giggle. 

“I’m sorry for cutting you off. It’s like ahh! So much… arggh.” She scrunches her nose and brow, struggling to find the right words, “It’s just, what I’ve always wanted to do. Make people feel things, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Playing a song and hearing the crowd singing the words back at you is just such an amazing thing. Like, in that moment, it's just you and everyone else sharing this connection and emotions and it’s ahh… it’s powerful, ya know? Like everyone is on the same wavelength, its… an out of body experience.” 

Diana looked at this girl, eyes sparkling, smile stretching from ear to ear, saying every word with such conviction and love. It was breathtaking to see. In that moment her heart clenches and her chest fills with a foreign warmth. 

_Woah. Diana. Alllcohol?_

“S-sorry, heheh, I get a little carried away talking about it.” Akko looks away sheepishly as her words rouse Diana out of her awestruck state.

“No, no please. You were… um…” Diana fumbles on her words, praying that the heated blush on her face is masked by the drink she is now holding up to her mouth. Still trying to analyze what is was that just happened, she forces out the next question she had for the brunette. “H-how long have you been playing for? You are very good.”

The girls red eyes crinkle as a flash of pink paints her cheeks. “Nahhh.” She says with a wave of her hand. “I’m just okay. I’ve been playing since I was in high school, but I’ve always wanted to perform. Sucy, Lotte, and I have been friends since elementary school and we started writing songs and just fooling around with some instruments, so we decided to start a band.” She pauses. “Well... I mostly made them...but they love it! No matter what Sucy says…” she rolls her eyes playfully before taking another swig of her beer. 

Diana turns her chair to face the brunette with a thoughtful look. 

_I wonder… who?_

_“_ Did you and your friends write that last song you played?” 

Akko freezes for a moment, the beer in her glass stopping at her lip as worry washes over her features. She gulps quickly before placing her drink down and poorly feigning comfort. “Y-yeah. I wrote it.” 

Unbeknownst to herself, Diana’s face breaks into a small smile. “You wrote that?” She notes the other girls discomfort and reaches her hand over to touch her shoulder. 

_What am I…? Oh whatever._

“Akko, it was beautiful.” 

Akko’s rigid posture instantly melts as she looks into cerulean eyes, surprised? Relieved? 

“I… had lost someone very close to me when I was young, and… what you wrote was… I know the feelings.” Diana stumbles on her words, lost in the attempt to explain the emotions she didn’t realize there could be words for. Without being too long winded, she resorts to sighing and looking into crimson eyes with a smile and a simple: “I really liked it.” 

At that, Akko lets out an enormous sigh of relief, “You… you don’t think its cheesy?” 

The two talked for hours. Once they had both finished their drinks, Akko ordered another beer for herself and insisted that she buy a drink for Diana. Diana relented, allowing the brunette to do so, however, Akko said it wasn’t fair that she ordered a water. 

It had been a couple hours since they started talking before Diana was watching Akko, who, already proving to be a very heart on her sleeve kind of girl, actually start pulling up her sleeves. 

“Shiny Chariot is and always will be my favorite performer.” Akko lifts the sleeve on her left arm to reveal a tattoo of the faded pop star, Shiny Chariot’s, signature star and banner graphic over a toned deltoid. “A lot of people think it’s silly, but she’s the one who made me want to be a musician.” The brunette says smiling. “She was my first concert, and I just remember being so happy. The drums pounding in my chest... and the stage lights! Now... _she_ knew how to put on a show!” The sparkling in her eyes just faintly dims as she pulls her sleeve down and picks up her drink once again. “After she stopped performing, I started begging my mom for music lessons. That’s actually when I wrote Afterimage…” she scratched the back of her neck, eyes scanning the bar top. “I kind of always hoped that one day if I got to play in front of a really big crowd maybe she would be there and hear it, I don’t know. I’d probably just die on the spot or something.” She starts laughing before lifting her drink to her lips. 

She knew she was maybe not completely sober, but Diana was pretty sure her emotions were no longer affected by any intoxication. But as she looks at the girl beside her, she sees the pools of fire in her eyes, burning with brilliant sincerity and passion, the adorably messy ponytail bobbing as she laughs, the strong and calloused fingers she suddenly had the urge to hold- 

_Woah there, Diana. Seriously, what’s happening?_

The blonde quickly shakes her head, chasing away the thoughts. After so little time...she finds herself a little alarmed at how much she likes this girl… 

But by no means does she want to fight it. 

Diana picks up her glass of water and raises it to Akko. “Well… in that case, I’d like to make a toast to Miss Shiny Chariot.” 

The brunette looks at her confused, glass still at her lips.

“To Shiny Chariot, for her music, I admit to enjoying when I was younger and for everyone she’s inspired. Without her, I don’t believe I would have met you this evening.” She smiles softly, holding her glass up as she looks into surprised burgundy eyes.

With her face flushing, after a moment Akko breaks into a shy smile and raises her glass towards Diana. “To Shiny Chariot.”

The two tap their glasses against one another with a quiet clink.

“I never would have guessed you’re the flirty type.” Akko teases Diana as she pulls her glass back.

Diana’s eyes widen in shock as she begins to panic, “I AM N- “

“AAAAAHHHHHHKKKKKKKOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” A very, VERY drunk Amanda yells as she flings herself, a flailing mass of limbs, towards her friend.

“Ahhkko, I ‘as lookin fr yuh ererywhere. L- *hic* Lotte and Suuuuuuuuuuucy are loadin’ th’ stuff up into the carrr.” Amanda drapes herself over Akko’s shoulder, taking a few moments to notice the other girl standing next to her. Once she does, she squints, tilting her head and just… stares at the blonde with a contemplative pout… for a good five seconds.

Akko, in a mix of amusement and horror steadies her friend. “Okay Amanda, I’ll be-“ 

“Hai. Yu’r hair is clouds.” Amanda blurts out and continues to stare at Diana.

Diana looks at her, entertained, and simply says ‘thank you’, to which Amanda toothily smiles and nods her head proudly.

“Okay, Amanda. I’ll be right there okay? How much did you drink?” Akko says with a slight panic as Amanda begins to try to steady herself and teeter away.

“A whole bag of-” She trails off as she begins to sway her way back over to Lotte and Sucy.

Akko and Diana stand in silence for a moment not quite sure how to say goodbye.

With a small breath of disappointment Diana puts on a half smile before looking towards the brunette. “Well, it was wonderful to meet-“

“Would you like to exchange numbers?” Akko blurts out. The brunette cycles through the feelings of being proud and being terrified of the words that came out of her mouth. “So… um… I guess I can let you know when our next show is? Yeah. Uh. If you want…obviously.”

Diana stands there for a moment looking at the girl wringing her hands in front of her. She lets her smile stretch fully across her face. “Yes, I’d like that very much.”

Akko turns quickly, seemingly taken by surprise from the response. “Wait, really?”

Diana digs through her bag, pulling out a smartphone before tapping at it’s screen. She then looks up at the stunned brunette. “What number can I expect to hear from?” 

Akko snaps out of her stupor, a huge smile spread across her face, and excitedly begins telling Diana her number. When the blonde finishes entering the number into her phone she looks up to Akko as the brunette looks down at her vibrating phone.

Akko opens the new text message from an unknown number...

_‘_ _Diana :)’_

“Oh my god you’re such a flirt!” She manages to say through a laugh and she taps in Diana’s name for the contact info. 

“WHAT DO YOU MEA- ?“

“AAAAHHHKKOOOOOO!!!” Amanda appears out of nowhere flinging herself over Akko’s shoulders once again. “I dun feel like flowers.”

“Okay, okay Amanda. We’re going.” Akko says through a fading laugh as she steadies her friend, repositioning Amanda’s arm around her neck and placing her own arm around her back to hold her up. She looks back at Diana smiling apologetically.

Diana smiles in return. “I suppose I will talk to you later.”

A grin spreads across Akko’s face before giving a little wave of her hand and carrying Amanda back across the bar towards the rest of their friends. 

“Holy shiiit, Aaahkko. She wa *hic* really huckin fot…” 

“Amanda!” Akko whisper yells in embarrassment and turns around to see Diana standing there with an amused smile, waving her fingers at them. 

“Heyyy, Did- *hic* did you - *burp*-“

“Amanda please!”

It’s at that point when Diana looks back down, smiling softly at Akko’s name and number at the top of her contacts that she notices the time. She had not realized how long she and Akko had actually been talking and there is a punch of guilt that runs through her as she realizes that she had not come to this bar without company. She turns around immediately spots her group through the emptying crowd. With an embarrassed heat in her cheeks, Diana returns to her friends (who unbeknownst to her, had been watching the entire time). 

“Diana!!” Hannah and Barbara drunkenly sing in unison. Barbara, a little more out of it than Hannah, drapes herself around the other girl’s shoulders and waist. “We saw you at the bar! Who was that girl? D’you know her?” a buzzed Hannah asks while holding Barbara to keep her from hitting the floor.

Diana pauses a moment, half laughing at the scene in front of her and half trying to process why she is embarrassed of the blush creeping up her neck at the mention of the other girl. “N-no” She quickly composes herself once she notes her hesitation. 

_They probably didn’t notice anyway._

“She is just one of the musicians from earlier and we had started talking and-” 

“DIIIIAAAAAAAANAA!!!” Barbara joyously yells as she clutches onto Hannah affectionately, not unlike a koala. “You. Youu…” she yells something inaudible into Hannah’s hair but then turns her face back to Diana wildly sobbing. “-SO HAPPY AND AND YOU WERE TOO CUTE TOGETHER!! TOO!!!” Diana couldn’t really hear too much of what was coming out of her mouth, but the blush violently and completely claimed her face when through the mess of sounds she heard the words “good with her hands”. She didn’t hear too much after that, but she caught some Night Fall references before Hannah managed to calm Barbara’s yelling. The raven-haired girl then begins giggling at her friend’s cooing and promptly smooshes her face into Hannah’s shoulder. 

Diana stands there not really sure how to proceed. All her voice would allow her is enough sound to let out an undignified “uh”. 

Hannah looks over to her with a smile. “I was going to come over when I saw that girl practically drooling at you, but you looked like you were having fun.” She winks at her teasingly. “Glad you came?”

Diana tries her best to will away the blood in her cheeks before looking into Hannah’s eyes apologetically. “I had a lovely night. I do apologize for stepping away for so long. I-” 

Hannah waves her hand at her. “Pssh! Stop. It’s good.” She holds tightly to Barbara who had begun sliding down her body tugging at the straps of her dress. “C’mon Barb, let’s go home.” A response of a drunken hum immediately follows.

They only take one step before Hannah turns and looks over to Diana with a devilish smile, “So will we see you in the morning or are you _not_ spending the rest of the night with ponytail girl?”

Diana groans and rolls her eyes as she softly pushes a giggling Hannah and Barbara towards the door.

As the three are about to reach the exit, Diana’s phone buzzes in her back pocket. As she pulls it out, a bloom of warmth makes itself known in her chest as she sees a text from Akko. 

‘ _So, we are playing an acoustic set at Café Meridies next Saturday. Would you maybe want to meet me for a tea or coffee before? If you’re not busy… if you want. We go on at 2.’_

After reading, Diana looks up and scans the bar for the girl or her friends. It only takes her a moment to spot her bouncing ponytail on the far side of the stage as she puts her guitar into it’s bag.

Unable to stop the tiny smile from creeping up her lips, she types in a reply, _‘Shall I meet you there at noon?’_ and hits send.

As she does, she watches the girl zipping her guitar into the bag. Diana can only assume she receives the message when suddenly she begins jumping and fist pumping into the air. The blonde manages to hold back a laugh as she watches the brunette scramble to catch her falling guitar from smashing onto the floor due to the sudden outburst before looking around nervously with the sudden realization that there were other people around her. Though, the caution only remains for a moment before she resumes with a much smaller, less frantic dance.

After allowing herself one last moment of watching the adorable girl at the stage, Diana smiles before turning her head back to her friends and following them out of the bar, looking forward to Saturday.


	2. Part 2 (Bar/Band - The "Shamelessly Fluffy Continuation")

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their first meeting, Diana and Akko have been preparing to meet one another for a midday performance...

* * *

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S CANCELLED?!” the brunette yells, shaking her friend by the shoulders.

Unfazed by her friend’s panic, Amanda responds, “It’s cancelled. The sound guy couldn’t show. What’s the big deal?”

“No no no no,” Akko releases Amanda and begins to pace around the room in a panic. “I’m supposed to meet up with Diana before the show, and then we were supposed to go on and play. But now if there’s no show, she has no reason to come early to the not happening show to meet up with me!” She walks over to the couch and falls face first into the cushions. 

“…”

“Are you being serious right now?” Sucy says looking incredulously over towards her slump of a friend. 

“Come on Akko,” Lotte takes a seat on the couch and comfortingly pats her friend’s head. “I’m sure Diana will still want to meet up.” 

“Though I can’t imagine why-” Sucy deadpans. Lotte shoots a disapproving glare over towards her before the pink haired girl continues. “In all seriousness, are you that dumb to think that she only said yes to come for the show?”

Akko turns her face out of the cushion to look towards her friends, a light indent of the couch seam red across her face. 

“You both looked like you were having a really nice time talking at the bar. She probably just wants to get to know you better.” Lotte says continuing to pat her head. 

Sucy leans against the back of the couch and toys with Akko ponytail, “Yeah, with you there’s no lack of interesting stories.” 

Jasminka steps over towards the couch, offering a salt and vinegar chip to Akko’s exposed face. “And you’re really nice.” Akko accepts the chip. 

Constanze holds up a notepad ‘ _sometimes almost too nice’_ scribbled on the page. 

Lotte takes her hand from Akko’s head and begins counting off fingers, “and you’re genuine and driven and-” 

“Or maybe blondie’s just really into badasses with Shiny Chariot tattoos.” Amanda smiles cheekily. 

As the room fills with laughter, a blushing Akko rolls her eyes and contributes with a light chuckle. 

“Alright, alright.” Akko pushes herself off her face and sits herself on the couch properly. Nestling back into the cushion, she bites at her cheek and looks down at her fidgeting hands. “But what if she decides she doesn’t want t-” she is silenced as her face is pushed upward by Amanda poking her forehead. 

“Then she’s missing out!” The girl says as she removes her finger from Akko’s head. “If it goes bad, we’ll be here for you okay?” 

“But don’t assume it will!” Lotte interjects. “You’re going to have fun, it’s all going to work out!” She says with a big smile and a thumbs up. 

Akko smiles and looks around at her friends. “Thanks guys...” She straightens up and takes a deep breath. “You’re right, it’s all gonna be okay!”

* * *

“Not okay, NOT OKAY!” Akko panics in the bathroom of Café Meridies trying to dry her pants under the hand dryer. She came early in hopes of de-stressing before meeting up with the blonde, unfortunately, her nerves caused her to spill her coffee and do the exact opposite of calm her down. Luckily, the coffee she was drinking had time to cool before spilling on her pants, however, her lap and right leg was damp and smelled heavily of vanilla roast.

“Oh come o~n!” She rubs at her pant leg hoping the friction will help it dry. 

_At least you picked black pants! Good job Akko._ she thinks as she checks herself in the mirror. Her pants were dry enough, she would be fine letting the rest air dry. 

She sighs and looks into the mirror. “Okay Akko. This is fine. YOU’RE fine. You’re gonna have a nice time with Diana and she’s not going to notice your wet pants.” 

She steps closer to the mirror, a determined look in her eyes and a tremble in her fingers. “You’re just getting a drink with a girl, don’t be so nervous. A really nice, really smart, and… really… pretty…” her determined face begins to soften with a blush before she catches herself and refocuses. “Definitely nothing to worry about. You, Akko Kagari, are a CATCH!” 

_BANG BANG BANG_

She jumps with a yelp as she is interrupted by a rather urgent sounding knock on the door. 

“S-sorry! Just a minute!” 

As Akko leaves the bathroom trying not to make eye contact with anyone waiting in the line leading to the women’s room, she feels a buzz in her pocket. As she pulls out her phone, her face brightens seeing that it is a text from Diana. 

‘ _I’m so sorry, I may be a few minutes late. I got caught up at home. I am on my way now.’_

Akko looks down at the text and smiles for a moment before sucking in a breath and responding. 

‘ _No problem! I just thought you should know though, the show got cancelled, so unfortunately The Broomstix won’t be playing.’_

She hits send nervously, an empty feeling welling in her chest. 

_What if she just decides to not come? I hope she didn’t have plans that she cancelled to come. Should I just reschedule or—_

Akko continues on this train of thought until a minute or so later where she finally receives Diana’s response. 

_‘My apologies, I just got to a red light. I’m sorry to hear you won’t be playing. Are you still available to get a drink?’_

Akko’s anxiety built up over the previous two minutes is instantly flung from her mind as she beams at the text. Practically vibrating from the force of her heart beat, she lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She types in a response as she gets in line for the counter. 

‘ _Absolutely! As long as that’s okay with you.’_

A few moments pass as she wait for the next text. Akko is fully aware of the goofy smile spread across her face but can’t bring herself to try to hide it. 

‘ _Of course! I will see you shortly.’_

Akko wiggles giddily before typing lin a response reading ‘ _eyes on the road!’_ but decides against sending it. 

When she gets to the front of the line she orders herself a hot chocolate, picks up some extra napkins (just in case), and sits back down, looking out the window across the café, waiting. 

About ten leg-bouncing, cocoa sipping minutes later, Akko sees Diana walk through the doors of the café. Excitedly, she calls her name, getting the blonde’s attention as she waves her over to the table. 

“I am sorry for being late, I hope I didn’t make you wait too long.” Diana says as she removes her coat and drapes it over the back of her chair. 

Akko, distracted by Diana’s button up shirt, snaps herself out of her daze, saying a silent prayer that she hadn’t gotten caught. “I-It’s no problem, I just got here myself.” She lies. “I’M sorry about there not being a show… I heard it was cancelled this morning and I didn’t know what to tell you… but I brought my guitar so um, I hope you’re not disappointed…” 

“Akko, please.” Diana looks at her kindly, “It is no problem whatsoever. While I would have loved to see you play, of course, I’m glad to have the chance to see you again.” 

Akko blushes and looks down at the table. “Well, that’s a relief.” She laughs a little as she looks back up at the blonde. “I’m glad you came.” 

A warm, genuine smile graces Diana’s lips as a light tinge of pink crosses her cheeks. “I-I’m going to get a drink, would you like anything?” 

“Oh, I’ll come with you.” Akko says jumping out of her seat and accompanying Diana to the counter. 

After a few moments of contemplation, Diana orders a chai tea from the counter. As she reaches into her pocket to pull out her money, Akko speedily slips her card to the barista causing the blonde to look up at her in surprise. 

Akko looks back at her with a smile and the raising of her shoulders. “I wanted to make it up to you for the beer.” 

Diana smiles and lets a small laugh escape her lips. “While I don’t think that is necessary, thank you.” She lightly bumps Akko’s shoulder with her own. 

The look, the smile, the laugh, and the brief contact were enough to make Akko’s chest fill with sudden warmth. She lets out a small cough, pulling her out of her daze. “N-no problem, I’m happy to.” 

The two head back to the table, tea in hand and heat in chest. 

“So,” Diana blows on her steaming tea once they retake their seats, “how’d you and your friends get back the other night? The singer, I believe, looked to be in pretty rough shape.” 

“Oh! Amanda.” She blushed remembering just how inappropriately drunk her friend was when she and Diana had said their goodbyes. “Well, she’s alright now… not so much through the night… or the next morning...” She chuckles sourly. “But we got everyone home alright.” 

“That’s good.” Diana takes a sip from her cup looking at her with interest. “Do you all room with each other?” 

“Nuh. I mean, I live with Lotte and Sucy.” She says while toying with the rim of her cup. “Amanda lives on the other side of town with Cons and Jaz, but we spend a lot of time at each other’s apartments, so we might as well be.” She giggles. “We kinda have this thing where we have a sleepover after shows so we kind of just leave our stuff all over the place.”

Akko thinks back to that night’s sleepover and how all her friends grilled her over the cute blonde at the bar. Between Amanda’s frequent trips to the bathroom and bouts of dozing off, she had quite a bit to say about her. Some of the more memorable things she had said begin to come to mind, causing a slow heat to rise in the brunette’s cheeks. 

“D-do you live with anyone?” She asks, trying to ignore Amanda’s slurring voice in her head. 

“I share an apartment with my close friends, Hannah and Barbara. We had grown up together.” Diana places her cup onto the table, careful not to spill. “When they heard I was going to school around here, they practically broke into my dorm and moved my things into their spare room.”

“Are they the ones you came with to the show?” Akko tries to think back towards the group of girls the blonde had said she was with the night at the bar.

“Yes, plus a few high school friends.” 

“That’s cool.” Akko smiles with a short laugh, “They have good taste in bars, if I do say so myself…”

The blonde smiles, “I suppose they do.” Her blue eyes meet Akko’s crimson. “They encourage me to go out a bit more than I would typically, so I have them to thank for the other night.” 

“Well, thank you Hannah and Barbara.” Akko says holding up her cup in a toast. 

Diana taps her cup to Akko’s and they both take a sip from their respective drinks. 

Akko’s eyes flit up to look towards Diana, who is covering her mouth, a humorous glint in her eyes. Akko looks at her confusedly as she sees the blonde swallow her tea and brush a finger over her top lip. It takes the brunette a moment before she mimics the movement and feels the residue of a hot chocolate mustache. Her eyes widen at the revelation as Diana holds out a napkin to her. 

“Thank you.” Akko laughs as she takes the offered napkin. 

“Is that hot chocolate?” Diana asks as Akko wipes her face.

“Yeah. I um… had some coffee earlier and uh, think it was making me jumpy.” 

Diana gives her a sympathetic smile, “I understand that. I usually drink tea to calm my nerves.”

Akko smiles and glances down at the cup in front of the blonde. 

_Ok, cool. So, I’m not the only one who’s nervous._

“Akko.” Akko’s head snaps to attention. “If you don’t mind my asking. When we first met you began introducing yourself by another name. Do you prefer to be called Akko?” 

Akko raises her eyebrows at the question, honestly surprised she remembered… and a little flustered that she cared. “Oh, um, well, my name is actually Atsuko… but all my friends call me Akko… and...everyone else really.” She pauses, scrunching her face, remembering back. “Really, the only people who ever called me Atsuko were my old professors who didn’t like me too much.” She laughs. 

“Atsuko.” Diana says quietly. 

A swarm of butterflies flutter through the brunette as she hears her name from Diana’s lips. It had never sounded so… wow. 

The thought ‘ _But you can definitely call me whatever you want…’_ crosses her mind. 

“Yyyup. Um.” She snaps out of her thoughts hoping that the pounding of her racing heart couldn't be felt through the table. “H-how about you?” 

Diana looks at her, clearly noticing her abrupt return. She shakes her head, “Nope, nothing special. I am just Diana.” 

Akko raises her eyebrow, her mouth spreading into a smile. Her better judgment begs her to stop to no avail. “That’s interesting. Well… okay, ‘JUST Diana’.” 

A dramatic exhale leaves Diana’s lips as she hangs her head. “I feel like I should have seen that coming…” 

Akko stretches in her seat and laughs out loud. 

Two hours and a double order of hot chocolate later, the girls continue deep in conversation. Comfort completely setting in after the first dad joke, their conversation was filled with genuine smiles and attentive interest. 

“Excuse me a moment, I will be right back.” Diana says as she pushes out her chair and rises to her feet. “Do you know where the restroom is?” 

“Oh, it’s right back that way.” Akko turns in her seat and points back behind her. She considered mentioning how good the hand dryers were, but then realized that would probably be a weird thing to comment on. At least for the first date... 

Once she directs Diana towards the bathroom, Akko catches herself biting her lip, staring at the blonde as she walks away. She feels the heat climb up her neck as she quickly turns herself to face forward. It is then that she notices, a few tables away, a very poorly disguised Amanda and Constanze looking over towards her. 

Akko’s fiery eyes shoot open before she suddenly pales. What expression she could see behind the wrinkled newspaper, aviator sunglasses and ridiculous fake mustache, clearly indicated that Amanda had caught her staring. The redhead’s smile peeks out from under the peeling mustache as her eyebrows wiggle over the tops of the sunglasses. 

Akko panics and looks behind her to make sure Diana wasn’t heading back to the table. By the time she looks back at Amanda, the redhead was demonstrating some very lewd actions with a doughnut. 

With cheeks rivaling her eye color, Akko angrily mouths ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!’ to her friend. Amanda just smiles, sensually licking the frosting from her fingers. Akko can do little bit cover her burning face with her hands to try to hide her embarrassment. 

A few moments later she feels a hand on her shoulder and jumps. 

“Are you alright?” Diana looks down at her, blue eyes swimming with concern. “Are you feeling ill?”

Akko tries her best to quell the burning in her cheeks. “N-no! I-I’m fine.” She said _almost_ convincingly. She spares a quick glance over towards Amanda and Constanze, seeing only Amanda’s sunglasses peeking above the newspaper and Constanze looking down blankly at the doughnut in front of her. 

“Uh um…” she looks up at Diana, her eyes about to follow her gaze to the table across from them. “Do you want to go for a walk?!” She says, maybe a little too loudly as evidenced by the sudden quiet in the café; but it did the trick since Diana’s eyes readily returned to her, albeit a little startled. 

“I-it’s a little cool, but it’s so beautiful out.” Akko begins to recover. “There’s a nice park around the corner and um, I can bring my guitar?”

Still confused about the brunette’s outburst, a small smile finds its way to Diana’s lips. “S-sure, that sounds nice.” 

As they finish their drinks and begin putting their coats on, Akko lets her eyes drift over Diana’s shoulder at Amanda giving her a thumbs-up and Constanze still looking blankly at her doughnut.

She gives Amanda one last warning glare which is graced the response of the lowering of glasses and a wink. Akko shifts her eyes back to Diana, watching her as she pulls her hair out from under her coat allowing it to fall over her hood and shoulders. 

_So soft._

She is mesmerized for a moment before pulling her attention away trying to hide her re-reddening cheeks. 

“Ready?” A strange humored expression crosses the blonde’s face. 

“Y-yup!” Akko responds, eyes being drawn back to Diana’s hair. She wills herself to look out the window to keep from staring. “I just want to grab my guitar from my car and then we’ll head over! It’s a really nice park, I go there to write sometimes. They put in a new swing set and picnic tables over the summer—” she stops herself 

_Stop rambling, why am I getting all nervous again?!_

Once the two leave the café, the chilled winter air a vast change from the warmth of the café, Akko leads Diana to her car, a small four door sedan with a decal of Shiny Chariot’s first album cover on the rear window. With an audible click, Akko unlocks the car door before reaching into the backseat and pulling out a guitar case. 

After slipping the straps of the case over her shoulders and re-locking the car, Akko leads Diana down the sidewalk towards the park. 

Much to Akko’s horror, the walk was quiet. 

_Ohhhh! What did I do? C’mon Akko, say something. Why is this so much harder all of a sudden??_

Akko panics, shifting her eyes between the girl next to her and the apparently very interesting sidewalk. 

_I can’t believe Amanda was spying on us! Did Diana recognize her? Oh, please no. I’m gonna kill her when I get ba—_

Suddenly the silence is broken by the sound of a suppressed giggle. Akko worriedly looks over to the blonde next to her to see her forcing her lips shut. 

“I’m sorry.” Diana’s barely controlled expression cracks, her eyes shining. “I… just... really like your jacket.” She says through a laugh. “It’s… a lovely color.”

Akko looks down at her magnificently bright orange jacket and begins laughing alongside Diana. She then strikes a pose in the middle of the walkway. “Well, I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t miss me!” 

Diana laughs, “Well, mission accomplished. I don’t think I could if I wanted to.” 

They both laugh before another moment of silence comes over them, far less daunting than before. 

“So, Diana.” The blonde turns her head towards Akko. “Tell me something I’d be surprised to learn about you.” 

Diana pauses for a moment, brows furrowed, thinking. Suddenly she brightens with a thoughtful expression. 

“You’ll probably appreciate this.” She starts before putting her hands in her pockets. “I… used to play the flute.” 

Akko’s mouth drops. “Seriously?” 

“Yup. I wasn’t very good, but my mother used to love it.” She says, a soft smile on her lips. “I picked it up a year or so before her passing. But once school got more competitive I put it down. So, it’s been a few years.” 

“That’s so cool!” Akko bursts. “When you get the time, you should totally start playing again! I’d love to hear! We could jam together!!!”

Flustered from the girl’s enthusiastic response, Diana blushes, “Maybe.” Her face takes on a slightly more serious expression. “I’ll have to see if my aunt still has it…” She pauses in thought before returning the question to the brunette. 

“Hmm, well… Oh! This is a good one.” She laughs while rubbing the back of her neck. “When I was little I wanted to be a witch so _soo_ badly. One time I broke my ankle jumping out of a tree with my mom’s broom. Like… the straw sweeping… you know the kind. Needless to say, I didn’t fly, but that didn’t stop me from trying again and again _and again_.” 

Diana looks at her sympathetically, humor dancing in her eyes. “I’m sorry you didn’t fly.” 

“Right? It would have been so much fun!” 

They continue their conversation until reaching the park’s chain link fence. 

“I can’t believe you were the horse girl!!!” Akko yells over a laugh.

“I wouldn’t say that…” Diana denies to no avail. 

Akko tries to look at her seriously but cracks the second she reaches her eyes. She erupts into laughter “I’m sorry!” 

Diana relents and starts laughing along with her, “Yeah that was bad. I can’t say I miss that year very much. I’m honestly surprised Hannah and Barbara stuck around.” 

“I’m sure you were adorable.” Akko tries to calm her laughing as she holds the park gate open for a pink cheeked Diana. 

“Aaaand we’re here!” Akko announces, holding her arms out in front of the park sign reading ‘ _Arcturus Park’._ “Taa daa! Want me to show you around?”

Diana grins looking at the goofball doing spirit fingers in front of her. “Lead the way.” 

They walk around the park consisting of a pretty small woodchip covered playground area, a second grassy area behind a grouping of winter bared bushes, and as Akko remarked in their walkthrough, newly installed picnic tables. Akko’s tour consisted of memories— this park had been where she first met her friends, it was the location of her final attempt to fly on a broom (it was done in front of her friends which then resulted in them naming the band), where she played her first “show” (air quotes included), where she “ran away” to (also air quotes) when she heard Shiny Chariot quit performing, and to this very day continues to be her favorite place to write songs. 

“In the summer, all back here is covered in dandelions and flowers, it’s really, really pretty.” Akko gushes as they approach the picnic tables. 

“I imagine it’s lovely.” Diana says, never taking her eyes off the girl in front of her. She was so captivating in her own energy, a genuine passion in every action easily causing Diana to lose herself in the other girl’s voice. By a stroke of luck she shifts her attention towards her surroundings as crimson eyes turn to face her. 

“Do you want to sit?” Akko gestures towards a wooden table.

They settle down at a nearby picnic table, Akko removes her guitar bag from her back and places it on the table. Akko then looks over to Diana, an anxious expression across her face. 

Nervously she begins, “So, I um, have been working on writing a song, and I was wondering if you would mind telling me what you think? There’s no words… yet… but um, would you be interested in…” 

Diana, fully aware of how nervous this was making the girl in front of her, calmly puts her hand on Akko’s coat sleeve hoping to put her at ease. “I’d love to hear it.” Diana says with a smile before shifting her expression “I did come for the show after all.” She winks jokingly. 

“Psssh,” Akko laughs and takes a breath, a new feeling taking place of the nervousness from a moment before. She turns and unzips her guitar case, pulling out an acoustic guitar decorated with stickers. She then steps on the bench, careful to not hit the guitar on anything, and settles herself on the tabletop. 

Diana watches her face closely as she rests the guitar in her lap and begins to tune it. 

_Her focused face is adorable. She thinks as_ a welcoming warmth fills her chest. 

“This is my first guitar… good ol’ Woodward acoustic.” She says as she continues to tune the guitar. “It was a little hard to learn on because the neck is big and the strings are a little harder to push down… but it made learning electric so much easier. They’re so different.” She continues, closing her eyes, listening to the strings. 

She played a few chords and ran a scale before pausing and turning the tuning peg on the highest string just a bit. She strums, and decides she is happy with the sound. She looks over to Diana who is looking back, color on her cheeks. 

“Okay, so… let me know what you think…” 

Diana nods and Akko takes a deep breath. 

_Don’t mess up don’t mess up._

She exhales and begins moving her fingers over the strings, settling into her picking pattern. 

Diana watches Akko as she moves to the sound of the guitar. All her movements were fluidly drifting with the music, from her fingers gliding from chord to chord to her foot tapping the beat against the bench. She finds herself temporarily distracted by the bobbing of the girl’s ponytail to the rhythm of the song, _almost_ making her miss Akko’s side glance towards her before quickly averting her eyes to the neck of the guitar. 

_She wrote this? It’s simple, but what she’s doing with it is beautiful. She really is something else._

Diana muses before suddenly focusing on Akko’s fingerpicking hand. As she watches her fingers dance across the six steel strings, she finds herself mesmerized by the pattern of their movement and the sweet sound coming from their ministrations. As she watches, an almost invisible smile pulls at her lips as she quietly chuckles to herself. 

_I suppose I can’t blame the alcohol for today._

Meanwhile, Akko is caught between the exciting calm of performing and complete panic. 

_Okay okay, doing good. Don’t mess up. Don’t make a weird face. Oh god what if she thinks this song is for her? I mean it sorta is. But would that be weird for her? Is it too much? Oh god why am I so warm? Is she bored? Ahhh. Oh it’s too late to worry about that now!_

Akko continues to play until the end of the song, her fingers slowing in their movement ending in one final flourish before letting the strings ring out. Once the sound stops she looks over to Diana who begins to applaud softly. 

“That was beautiful!” she pauses to find the words to describe it, “It was… warm.” she clasps her hands together and places them weakly on her lap. “I’m... afraid I am a poor music critic, but it was lovely, Akko.”

Akko pauses for a moment staring into bright blue eyes. The same kind eyes that she thought of as she picked up her guitar later in the night after they met. “I- I’m glad you liked it. I’m uh, I’m working on lyrics, but I haven’t settled on anything yet.” 

“Well, if you ever want to play for me again, I’d love to hear it.” 

A huge smile crosses the brunettes face as she scratches the back of her neck. “Would um, you want me to play something else? The acoustic version of Afterimage is a little different than the full band version… or wait, are you getting cold?” 

“Not at all, I’m actually quite warm. I’d love to hear more, unless you’re cold?” 

“No, I’m... pretty warm too.” 

* * *

Time and songs pass, and eventually the sound of music turns yet again into laughter and conversation. The sun begins to set, taking with it what little warmth was in the air. The girls, caught off guard by the darkening sky, decide to leave the park and head back to the café. 

“I didn’t realize how late it was. I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t keep you too long…” Akko apologizes, a small cloud forming from her breath. 

“Not at all! The time did seem to go by quite fast, didn’t it?” 

“Yeah, it just started getting dark out of nowh-” the lip of the sidewalk catches the toe of Akko’s sneaker, causing her feet to come out from beneath her. Before she gets the chance to brace her fall, she feels Diana’s hand grab her own, allowing her the time and support to steady herself. 

“Are you alright?” Diana asks softly, still holding tightly to the brunette’s hand. 

Akko, not quite sure if she was slightly in shock because of the close call of eating pavement in front of her date, or if it was because of said date’s hand holding her own. 

“I-I uh” she stutters, absentmindedly looking down to their joined hands. 

_Yup, definitely because of the hands. Oh my gosh she’s so warm._

Diana follows her gaze to their hands and for a moment worry comes over her expression, until she feels Akko’s hand tighten around hers. 

Blue eyes meet red. “T-thank you, that would have been embarrassing.” Akko says blushing, her free hand scratching the back of her head. 

“Of course.” Diana smiles, squeezing Akko’s hand in return. 

A light snowfall begins as the two walk back to the café hand in hand. Their walk is a little quieter than before, warm thoughts and the calm sound of footsteps taking the places of stories and laughter. 

_How is her hand so soft??_

_Calm down Diana, she’s going to feel your heartbeat… Her hand feels so nice._

The sunset made way for darkness as they approach the entrance of the café. Colored fairy lights decorate the outside window, Café Meridies written in gold on the glass. 

They face one another as they reach the window, interlocking their free hands. Standing in silence, their breath forms a cloud between them. 

_What do I do? Do I… kiss her? Isn’t that too fast? I mean it’s only our first time going out. I mean, I’d do it, but I don’t know if she’d be into that. My gosh she’s beautiful._

Diana shivers slightly, snapping Akko out of her inner monologue. “Well, I suppose I should be heading home.” She says softly, never shifting her eyes from Akko’s. 

“Y-yeah. Me too.” They keep their hands interlocked. Warm. A few more moments of silence pass as the two search one another’s faces. 

Diana takes in a deep breath and releases it into the air, ending the silence as she squeezes Akko’s hands. “I had a very nice time today.” She gives her a small smile before looking down at their hands. “I was wondering if you would be interested in maybe seeing a movie… um… with me… next weekend? If you aren’t busy of course.” 

“I’d love to!” Akko interjects, a giddiness resonating through her. 

The blonde is slightly taken aback by the speed of the response. “Oh, wonderful! Um. I… you said you enjoyed adventure films right? Would you be interested in that one, um, Triskellion? I think?” 

“Sure! But, I think I heard it’s supposed to be a little scary…” 

“I’ll keep you safe.” 

Both girls flush red. Diana stands there frozen, wondering what on earth has just come out of her mouth while Akko stands there praying that the furnace burning inside of her won’t cause noticeable steam to rise from her body into the cold night. 

The overload of emotions running through Akko is too much to keep contained. Suddenly the brunette blurts out into laughter, instantly breaking the tension. Diana, her panic melting away at the sound, follows suit shortly after, falling victim to the brunette’s contagious laughter. “You’re such a flirt.” Akko teases as she goes in for a hug, wrapping her arms around the other girl’s waist. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Diana eases her laughter, feigning surprise before hugging Akko in return, laying her cheek against her hair. 

_She smells so good._

After a moment, the girls pull apart from their warm embrace. Akko, immediately missing Diana’s body against hers. 

“Can I walk you to your car?” Akko asks, holding her hand out once more to the blonde who offers her own freely. 

The snow comes down harder as the two reach the parking lot. Once they reach Diana’s car the two turn to face each other once more, separating their hands. 

“Alright, so I’ll text you about the movie.” Akko grins, shoving her hands into her pockets. “Have a goodnight, Dian-” 

Diana reaches up to Akko’s face brushing a piece of snow off her cheek with her thumb. Her eyes looking at her softly. She seems to freeze in a slight panic from what she’s doing as she notices the wide-eyed brunette looking back at her slack jawed. She takes her hand from Akko’s face with as much composure as she can gather, (which amounts to a similar amount to what someone has when accidentally touching a hot stove). 

“Y-you as well, Akko.” The blonde unlocks her car and opens the door, pausing before getting in to turn back to face her. “Goodnight.” She smiles. 

Akko stands there adorably touching her face, trying and failing to make it look like that is not exactly what she is doing. “G-goodnight.” Cerulean eyes lock on crimson as Diana gets into her car. Akko stands motionless and collecting snow for a short while, watching the car drive away before heading to her own a few spaces away. 

She unlocks the car, places her guitar in the backseat and climbs into the front. As she puts her keys in the ignition and waits for the car to warm up, she dazily sits there just looking through the windshield at the snow coming down. After a few moments she closes her eyes calmly before throwing her head back, squealing, touching her heated cheek and stomping her feet excitedly. 

Through her whole drive home, the wide grin spread across her burning face never weakened. Her smile only faltered, turning to surprise, when she walked through her front door to see her friends all waiting. 

“How did it go!?” Lotte and Amanda explode as she steps inside, the rest huddling, listening intently. 

After a moment of recovery, Akko responds, “It was really nice!” Her smile temporarily reappearing on her face before shifting as she focuses her attention on Amanda, “EXCEPT for when some PERVY OLD MAN was SPYING on us!” 

The redhead shrugs her shoulders, unaffected her by the accusation, “I said I’d be there for ya, didn’t I?” she winks. “Besides, you’re welcome for getting you out of there… did you have fun at the park? All _alone…_ keeping each other _warm-_ ” 

“Nothing like that happened at all!” Akko’s face flushes a deep red. “We- we just talked and I played some songs for her…” 

“Awww!” Lotte sighs. 

“I… I had a wonderful time with her.” Akko finishes, her blush calming. 

“When’s the next date?” Amanda chimes in. 

Akko’s blush returns with renewed vigor as she sputters out, “We-well she asked if I wanted to go see a movie with her next weekend.” 

“She asked YOU?? Man, Akko, how desperate is she?” Sucy jokes, coming up behind the brunette poking her reddened cheek. 

“Hey!” Akko turns to her, “She’s not desperate! She’s smart, and caring, and funny, and gorgeo-” she is interrupted by a loud growl from her stomach. 

Her friends look at her wide-eyed. 

“Did you eat anything?” Lotte asks seriously. 

“I… kinda forgot, we were on a walk and I guess I kind of lost track of time…” Akko responds embarrassed. 

“Woah, Akko missed a meal for this girl. This must be serious.” Sucy teases. 

“Hey!” Akko puffs her cheeks out. 

Amanda’s face cracks into a wicked smile. “I thought for sure you would have eaten out tonight…” 

“AMANDA!!!”

* * *

Diana brushes the snow off her jacket as she reaches her apartment door. When she walks through the threshold she finds both Hannah and Barbara in matching robes sitting on the couch waiting for her. 

“What are you doing back so late?” Hannah looks at her disapprovingly. 

“And why haven’t you answered any of your texts?” Barbara says sharply, matching Hannah’s look. 

“We were worried sick!!!” The two yell in tandem, losing their serious expressions. 

“I-I’m sorry, I-” Diana flinches for a moment before pulling out her phone to see 9 unopened texts as well as two missed calls from the two of them. “I had put my phone on silent because I didn’t want to interrupt the show. I’m sorry, I forgot to turn it back off.” She switches her phone off of silent mode. 

“Whatever!” Hannah waves her hand quickly dismissing the issue. Suddenly she and Barbara are at Diana’s sides peppering her with questions about the date. 

“How did it go?” 

“What was she like?” 

“Was she as cute without booze on board?” 

“Did she pluck any heartstrings? OOH! Oh my gosh, did she write you a song?!?” 

Diana just blushes and says “We had talked at the café and then went for a walk after. I had a very nice time with her…and... I’m hoping to see her next weekend for a movie.” 

Her friends hold each other squealing happily. 

“Do you want us to come and watch out for you? You know, in case you get uncomfortable?” Hannah asks seriously.

“We could go in disguise!” Barbara adds excitedly. 

“You won’t even know we’re there.” Hannah waves any worry away. 

Diana nearly visibly sweat drops, “T-that won’t be necessary. But I do appreciate the offer…” 

“DID SHE KISS YOU?” Barbara blurts out excitedly. 

Diana turns beet red. Despite thinking about how badly she wanted to kiss Akko’s snow-covered cheek, she manages to sputter out a “N-no. We- we’re not at that point. Th-this is only the first time we’ve gone out.” She looks away from her who friends who look at her with sly smiles and sharp eyes. 

“Methinks the lady Cavendish doth protest too much~” Hannah sings out as Barbara stifles a giggle. 

Diana rolls her eyes, willing the blush away, praying they would think it’s because of the cold, but she’s smart, she knows better. 

“I’m going to go change into something a little warmer.” Diana tries to steer the topic in another direction. “Have you eaten yet? I know I made you wait longer than expected.” She asks turning towards her bedroom. 

“We were just going to order some takeout, did you want anything?” Hannah answers, fully aware of the diversion. “Maybe some… Japanese?” She and Barbara smile slyly. 

Diana turns her head to look at them, with an exhausted expression on her face, a tired laugh escapes her lips. “I’ll have whatever you two are having. Thank you. I’ll be back in a moment.” She continues to smile as she heads to her room. 

Hannah and Barbara wait quietly until they hear The blonde’s bedroom door close. 

“That will be ten dollars and a back massage please!” Barbara holds her hand out cheerily. 

“Are you kidding? She outright said ponytail didn’t kiss her!” Hannah looks at her, putting her hand on her hip defiantly. 

“But did you see her blushing? That was totally a lie.” 

“No way!”

* * *

Diana reaches her bed and falls back onto her comforter and stares at the ceiling. 

_Oh gosh, what was I thinking? I shouldn’t have touched her face like that._

She reaches up to her face and feels the red hotness emanating from her cheeks as she mentally scolds herself. 

_I can’t believe I did that. Have a little more self-control! I can’t believe what I’m thinking...But her laugh, her smile is contagious. And the way she looked when she was lost in her guitar… she smelled like vanilla…_

She closes her eyes, concentrating on her heartbeat and smiles as she thinks about Hannah’s earlier question. 

_I am happy to find my attraction to her had very little to do with the alcohol._

It is then that she feels a vibration from her phone in her back pocket. Still laying on the bed, Diana pulls out her phone and smiles as she reads the sender’s name. 

‘ _I feel like such a jerk! I should have taken you out for dinner!! Please forgive me <3’_

_Thank goodness…_

_S_ he smiles relieved. Slightly caught up by the text heart, she types in a response. 

‘ _Maybe you can make it up to me by joining me for dinner before the movie?’_ She hits send and sits herself up on her bed. 

A few moments pass and the phone vibrates in her hand. 

‘ _Deal! But it’s my treat!’_

_‘Well, if I have no choice. Though I do believe you are treat enough already.’_ She sends the text, immediately questioning whether or not she may have overstepped. 

She doesn’t receive a response right away, which adds to her nervousness. As she waits she changes into a sweatshirt and flannel pants and is in the middle of putting her hair into a ponytail when she hears the vibration on her bed. She practically runs over to her phone to read:

_‘FLIRT!!!!!’_

She rolls her eyes, smiling, and starts typing. 

_‘I suppose I am. ;) Should I stop?’_

She waits for a response, this time it comes quickly. 

_‘Absolutely not! Have a goodnight Diana! o^_^o’_

‘ _Goodnight Akko :)‘_ She texts back. Taking a moment to tame the smile on her face, she places her phone in her sweatshirt pocket and takes a breath. With a warm fullness in her chest she heads towards the kitchen. 

_Actually, Japanese would be nice._

* * *

Bonus:


	3. Part 3 (Bar/Band - "Three Cheers")

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They say distance makes the heart grow fonder, however it still leaves much room for the mind to wander. After not seeing one another for the first time in over a month, the questions and hesitations plaguing Akko and Diana's minds are answered the night of The Broomstix' biggest show yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is it! In the spirit of out-doing my previous chapters, this time around I have included a recording of the original song used in this chapter... so... if you want to give it a listen you can find it [here ](https://superevilbadguy.tumblr.com/post/186286434263/the-strumming-of-heartstrings-aka-barband) on tumblr. I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT!!!!

* * *

The wheels of Diana’s car roll to a stop beneath the glow of the flickering streetlight in front of Akko’s apartment. The night is quiet as the January air caresses the windows; the chill just barely noticeable from within the comfortably heated car. 

Diana shifts her gear into park as she looks over, meeting the eyes of the brunette, noticeably a little quieter than she had been before leaving the movie theater. 

It had only been a week since their first date at the café, and while they had spoken on the phone or through text every day leading up to this night’s viewing of ‘ _Triskellion: The New Nine´,_ it surprises Diana just how easy it is to be comfortable in the other girl’s presence. They really hadn’t known one another very long, but the sense of belonging and the undoubtable attraction Diana finds herself having to the brunette, while making her chest pound, makes the beating of the butterfly wings a welcome feeling.

A quiet yet content moment passes before the nearly silent hum of the engine is interrupted by a deep breath from the girl in the passenger’s seat. 

“I had a really great time tonight.” Akko smiles as she fiddles with a loose string at the end of her sleeve. “Thank you for the movie, Diana.”

The blonde’s lips pull into a smile as she looks into burgundy eyes illuminated by the overhead light’s yellowed cast. “It was my pleasure. Thank _you_ for dinner.” She says before her eyes turn apologetic. “I…hope the movie wasn’t too… much. It was a little more frightening than I was led to believe… So, I apologize.” 

“Oh! N-No! It was fine!” Akko laughs, waving her hands as her cheeks flush at the memory of Diana holding onto her arm just as tightly as she was holding onto hers. She had to admit, the movie was far scarier than she had thought it would be, though, she was granted some relief each time she looked over towards the blonde honed in on the screen, jaw set in ardent defiance of the fear dancing in her eyes. Even with the sound of blood curdling screams of the countless innocents about to be claimed by a demon missile reverberating in her ears, she couldn’t help but be comforted by Diana’s (albeit tense) touch. “You did say you’d keep me safe after all.” 

The two share a small giggle before the car falls again to silence. Despite the dim lighting, the blush blooming on each girl’s face was easy to tell. The headlights of passing cars glide over them like the sun cycling through the days while the white noise of Diana’s car melts away into the void as they sit quietly gazing into each other’s eyes for what feels like an eternity. 

For the briefest of moments Diana’s eyes flit ever so slightly down to Akko’s lips. She could see red residue from the cherry slush drink she had been drinking throughout the movie smeared across the edges of her mouth. Her imagination doesn’t have to work hard to liken it to disturbed lipstick, and she finds she cannot help but wonder whether it still maintains its taste. 

_Is… it still too soon? I don’t just want to make the assumption that she feels the same way I do. I shouldn’t rush her… but…is…is she waiting for me to… oh! Crap… she’s waiting for me to unlock the doo-_

Just then Diana’s thoughts are halted at the sight of Akko leaning in and over the console between them. Time seems to pass in frozen frames before her eyes as the brunette moves closer and closer. Her hands tighten around the steering wheel for some semblance of balance in this moment moving far too slowly yet far too quickly for her to process. Her heart begins to race as she finds her head involuntarily tilting to the side to meet the other girl’s slowly approaching lips.

Her world only resumes to its natural pace once the brunette’s face bypasses her own and her chin meets the other girl’s shoulder. Akko’s arms wrap around her in a warm hug, and while it takes her a moment to scold her mind for clearly imagining the expression on the brunette’s face that led to her assumption, Diana pulls her arms from the steering wheel and encircles them around the other girl returning the squeeze and holding her close. Despite her slight embarrassment, Diana smiles into the other girl’s hair taking in the smell of citrus shampoo and popcorn. 

Despite the odd positioning over the car’s console, the two remain locked in one another’s arms, basking in the soft warmth and racing heartbeat of the other. 

After a few blissfully slow moments, with a hum and one final squeeze Akko pulls away from the embrace showcasing fiery red cheeks and a slight pinch to her brow. 

“Th-thank you again.” Akko says quietly, averting her eyes and swallowing nervously before quickly reaching for the handle of the door and scooting out of her seat into the cold night. “H-have a good night! Um, let me know y-you got back home safe, okay?” 

And then she was gone, trying not to slip on the residual ice on her walkway as Diana watched from the inside of the car, slightly confused by the farewell yet still buzzing from the girl’s embrace. 

That had been five weeks ago... and the last time the two girls had seen one another. 

With her winter break finally at an end, Diana had resumed school for the start of her spring semester. Although she had not left the area, her workload kept her room and library bound when not running between lectures. While text messages and selfies were no strangers to one another’s phones, the messages began getting fewer and further between when Akko (much to Diana’s support and encouragement) found herself busy with a sudden development of ‘The Broomstix’ popularity. 

The band had been featured in an article written during the night of the show in the bar where the two of them met. The article had caught the attention of several names in local music, who in turn contacted the band (Amanda received the phone call and nearly hung up on them with a “you’re shitting me, right?”) and offered opportunities to perform live in larger local venues, which they unanimously accepted. 

So, with Diana buried in her schoolwork and Akko along with the rest of the band occupied with booking gigs and constant practice, the two had found it almost impossible to find time in their schedules to meet up. There had been one Saturday night show Diana had the chance to attend, however at the last minute, her Aunt Daryl demanded she come home for the weekend to deal with a “family emergency” forcing her to call Akko to tell her that she would not be able to make it. Although the brunette insisted that it was alright, Diana could not get rid of the guilt she felt as she heard the girl’s voice clearly attempt to mask her disappointment. 

Diana missed her. And while their texts still started and ended their days with ‘good morning’ and ‘goodnight’, Diana swears she can feel a rift forming between them with each busy day apart. While she is certain her interest in the brunette has not waned in her absence and minimal has changed aside from the frequency of their messages, she can’t help but fear that the magic that sparked between them during the break was slowly fizzling out. 

So, when she received an invitation to see her perform at a local talent showcase on the very same Thursday night that her biochemistry lab was scheduled to be cancelled, her heart leapt at the chance to see the other girl’s ruby eyes in person. Homework be damned, she would get it done at some other time. 

But now, after a week of excitement and anticipation, with the showcase only an hour or so away, the ever-present nerves stirring in Diana’s heart bubble to the surface at the reality of finally seeing the brunette again. 

And much to the dismay of her emotionally compromised logical mind, with nerves come doubt... 

_What if she was just being polite in inviting me? I mean, we have been talking regularly, it would only make sense that she’d invite a… friend… or whatever we are._

_I had thought our date had gone well, but now… what if I’ve been seeing this all wrong? There’s the possibility that she has no interest in moving forward… I’m certain Akko would be too nice to just cease speaking, but with how everything’s been…_

_I mean, of course… I’d still want to see her perform whether she has an interest in me or not… I… I would be happy to be a friend… if that is all I can be…_

_But how could I have let this happen? How can I be unsure of how she feels about me? Are there signs I’ve been misreading? Or have I just been ignoring them because I can’t see past hopeful optimism? What if-_

“DIANA! RED LIGHT!!!”

The scream from her passenger seat snaps Diana out of her thoughts, finding herself with her foot on the gas rapidly approaching the red glow of a traffic light. She slams on the breaks, screeching to a stop at the (fortunately) not so busy intersection as Barbara and Hannah grip tightly to their seats. 

After a quick breath to gather herself, Diana turns to look at Hannah in the passenger seat and Barbara directly behind her. “Girls I’m so sorry. A-are you alright?” 

“We’re fine.” Hannah says looking back to a slightly pale Barbara who nods, removing her death grip from the sides of the seat. “Are _you_ alright?” 

The blonde lets out another breath, lifting her hand to her forehead in concern. She had not even registered the red light. “Yes… I had gotten lost in thought for a moment there…I apologize.” 

“Are you really _that_ nervous about seeing Akko? Did something happen between you two?” Barbara asks leaning forward in her seat before her eyes widen with a flicker of anger. “Did she do something to you? ‘Cause, Diana, we know people… if she did something-” 

“No no no! It’s… it’s nothing like that.” Diana speedily defends, frazzling her mind for a moment before noting that the light had changed to green. “She’s... been wonderful.” 

“Then what’s on your mind?” Hannah asks softly as she cocks her head to the side trying to meet Diana’s eyes. “Do you not want to go tonight?” 

“No, I do… I am… very much looking forward to seeing her… and the performance but...” Diana pauses for a moment, tenderly pushing her foot down on the gas and refocusing on the road before taking a hesitant breath. “I suppose I’m… just not sure what to expect.” 

Aside from the details Hannah and Barbara had dragged out of her about her dates with Akko, Diana had kept much of the information on the bubbly brunette close to her chest. She had tried her hardest to spare her best friends the possibly irrational doubts running through her head, but it seems clear now, that the two of them have been far more attentive to her than she led herself to believe. 

This was her first time being involved with a relationship of this nature and she didn’t particularly wish to make herself seem a fool to her closest friends. Though... at this point, she feels she may owe them the explanation after potentially putting them in danger with careless driving. 

“Well, what do you mean?” Barbara leans forward from the backseat. “You’re going to go see your girlfriend perform after not seeing her for a while…” She looks over to Hannah and nudges her arm with a sly smirk. “I can think of a couple things to expect…” 

Trying hard to focus on the road, Diana misses the teasing implication as the word ‘girlfriend’ bounces around in her head. 

Diana had quickly concluded that she would absolutely not mind the label, however, despite their dates and regular messaging, nothing had really been formally established. She feared that she had wanted to move too quickly, and based on Akko never bringing it up, she assumes that she was not ready. 

The last thing she wanted was to rush the brunette and risk ruining what they have. 

Or at least… what she hopes they have. 

“I wouldn’t say ‘girlfriend’ is… accurate. We have not really discussed what we are to one another in that extent.” 

“Diana…” Hannah looks at her blankly, “You’ve gone out on two dates. You talk EVERY DAY. You _do_ like her romantically right?” 

“W-well yes… of course… I-” 

“You’ve never been the type interested in a fling.” Barbara says with a wave of her hand and slipping into a teasing smile. “So, I’m surprised you didn’t write up a proposal and make it official the second you kissed.” 

Although her eyes stay locked on the road, Diana’s mind is far from the pavement. 

She had been given chances, but how could she take them? The snowy night at the cafe, their moment in the car...they were too soon or potentially unwanted. She truly was content with their embrace ending the night of their second date, she wouldn’t trade those few moments for the world... She would have had to be out of her mind if she were to have acted on closing the distance between them. Right? 

“We have not yet gotten to that point...” 

“Wait. Seriously?” Barbara’s face drops, blurting in surprise as Hannah spins her head, giving the raven-haired girl a look that _screams_ ‘I WAS right!’. 

“Yes…” The blonde says quietly. 

Barbara pouts as a silent sigh of defeat leaves her lips as she shrugs and silently mouths ‘fiiiine’ towards the auburn-haired girl. 

After wiping the smug look off her face, Hannah returns her attention to Diana. “I mean, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.” She says carefully. “We just thought with how you’ve been with her, ya know…” 

“That may be my worry.” Diana relents. 

Stewing in her thoughts has proven to result in nothing but _more_ unhelpful thoughts, so, she reasons after a little pushing, maybe sharing with her friends may afford her a new clarity 

“I’m unsure if I am thinking more of the relationship than she is. Or perhaps am taking it in a direction she doesn’t wish it to go...” 

“Okayyy…” Her two passengers harmonize as they expectantly look at her to continue. 

“And... while I had thought it had been going well between us, with both of our schedules how they’ve been, I would hardly be able to blame her if she’d prefer to meet someone with like interest who can be there for her...” 

“Are you daft!?” 

“Seriously Diana, stop overthinking this.” 

The blonde hesitantly takes her eyes off the road to glance at Hannah leaning into her vision. 

“So what if it’s not something official yet? You still like her right?” Diana just barely nods her head as hazel eyes look at her silently scolding her. “Okayyy. And judging by the amount of heart emojis she sends you I can only imagine she likes you back.” 

Blue eyes speedily return focus to the road as a light blush prickles at her cheeks. 

Hannah’s eyes and voice soften as she sits back in her seat. “All you can do is see how it goes. Don’t let a whole bunch of ‘ifs’ ruin a nice night with her. You really never used to strike me as the type to get nervous over this kind of thing.” She pauses with an exhale. “Now, the real question is, do you think she’s worth waiting for?” 

A shy smile crawls across Diana’s lips as she slows to a red light, bringing her thoughts back to shining crimson eyes. 

_She’s right. Regardless of what we could be, I’d much prefer her in my life than out if it. It will surely be addressed at some point… for her, I’d consider patience a small request._

After a moment she lets out a sigh from her nose. “Very much so.” 

“Well there you go then!” Barbara grins leaning forward in her seat. “Just wait until you see her. You never know, maybe it’ll all make sense when you do.” 

“You both have a point… I... do tend to over-analyze… I apologize. But is it really not normal to question-?”

_Ping!_

Diana’s phone, which has been working as their GPS, lights up with a text message bannered across the top. 

_Akko:_ ‘ _Let me know when you get here! Can’t wait to see you!!! <3 <3’_

“Mmm, well… I guess it _is_ normal.” Hannah smiles at the sight of the lovestruck blonde desperately trying to conceal a grin as her eyes jump between the text and the road. “Though… something tells me you don’t have anything to worry about.” 

* * *

“Yoooo! Holy crap… check this place out!!” Amanda echoes through the music hall as she, followed by Jasminka, Constanze, Sucy, Lotte, and Akko, walk through the main entrance of the building with instruments slung over shoulders and gear in hand. 

“Hey Akko, quit sending dirty messages to your girlfriend and look at that stage!” 

“Shut uuup Amanda!” Akko growls rolling her eyes at the redhead with a bright pink across her cheeks. She smiles one last time at the message lighting up the screen of her phone: 

_'We’ll be there soon! Stop texting hearts or you’ll make Diana crash the car. - Hannah’_

-before turning it off, pushing it into her back pocket, and joining her friends in gawking at the night’s venue. 

From the door they look out into the wide expanse of slowly filling crowd space, noting a large balcony overlooking the main floor and the magnificent raised wooden stage, easily outsizing anything they had gotten the opportunity to perform on before. They watch as venue staff and musicians (they assume are a part of the first act), push through thick burgundy curtains leading from backstage, taping down cords and setting up equipment across the main performance area. 

Akko’s eyes rove over the large stage (easily three times the size of the stage at Moonburst), at the high quality stage monitors sitting at the apron of the platform positioned out towards the audience, up to the balcony with glittering fairy lights draped across the ceiling like a clear starry night before uttering a soft ‘wow’ under her breath. 

Her heart thunders in her chest as she and her friends begin to make their way up towards the stage, seemingly growing in size the closer they get. Despite how often she had been performing as of late, she still revels in the pre-performance jitters. Sharing her stories, her feelings, a one of a kind experience with everyone in the audience still fills her with the same jostling yet addictive thrill she felt the very first time she performed in front of her mother alongside Lotte and Sucy in her garage. However, tonight, alongside the buzzing of excitement to be playing in front of their largest crowd yet, a different type of nervous bubbles inside her at the thought of performing for one person in particular. 

“Hey! You ladies in a band?” A man in a dark t-shirt with the word ‘STAFF’ printed on the back calls out to them as he unrolls a cord and connects it to one of the backup microphones. 

“Is it obvious?!” Amanda calls out in response holding up her guitar case and gesturing to the rest of the group carrying their own instruments. 

The tired stagehand looks at them with a sigh before pointing his thumb over towards a door at the side of the stage. “The green rooms in the back, you can leave your gear in your marked spot backstage, band list is on the wall, don’t get too rowdy…and if you’re underage…” he says eyeing Constanze carrying Amanda’s amplifier, “we will card you, so stay away from the bar.” 

Constanze’s eyebrows shoot to the top of her forehead as her fingers clutch angrily at the sides of the amp. 

“Yessir! We’ll be right. On. Our. Way!” Amanda says jumping between the man and the smaller girl’s direct death stare as the rest of the band begins pulling her away. “C’mon,” the redheaded girl whispers, “I’ll make sure he has a hard time untangling those cords at the end of the show.” 

Seemingly satisfied, with a final chuff, Constanze relinquishes her glare and rolls her eyes before moving alongside the rest of the group towards the side door. 

Walking through the doors, eyes bouncing from wall to wall covered by autographed photos and news articles of past events, they make their way down a short hallway towards the gear drop off backstage. 

After dropping off the drums (most of which had been carried by a just barely strained Jasminka), piano, and amplifiers in a taped square disrespectfully labeled ‘Broomstick’, the girls head back out into the hallway and make their way to the green room. After maneuvering their way around incoming musicians and staff members rushing to fix what seems to be sounding so very wrong for the sound check taking place on stage, Akko and Amanda tune their guitars as they move down the hallway. 

“Amanda, can you give me an E?” The brunette asks holding the neck of her guitar up close to her ear, one hand on the strings, the other on the tuning pegs. 

The redhead plucks at the top string of her bass, the sound barely making it to Akko’s ears as the sound check taking place on stage is still the overwhelming sound bouncing down the hallway. 

“S-sorry can you do that again?” 

“Why didn’t you tune your guitar at home?” Sucy asks stepping to the side as Lotte grabs Akko by the waist, pulling her out of the way of an oncoming man and a very large bass drum. 

Akko thumbs at her top string, eyes closed trying to match the sound of the bass before giving up and resorting to do it when they sit down. “I did! But my hard case broke so I had to use the soft case and it must have gotten untuned in the car!” 

“How on earth did you break that hard case?!” Lotte asks in bewilderment as Sucy narrows her eyes. 

“For real! That thing fell out of the moving car and came up without a scratch!” Amanda exclaims, now very curious on what the brunette had been doing. 

“IT JUST KINDA HAPPENED! I DON’T KNO- _oof!”_

Akko stumbles back into Lotte and Sucy after being bounced backward by the person turning the corner out of the green room. 

A short girl with a bowl cut and a very dramatic show of black and white face paint followed by a dark haired girl with a red highlight carrying a Dean V come into view. 

“Oop! I’m sorry!!!” The girl coated in face paint says with an unexpectedly bubbly voice as she dives forward, grabbing Akko’s shoulders. After she straightens Akko out, she pauses with a squint, tapping a finger to her chin. “Hey you look familiar...” 

“Uhh… oh?” Akko utters out unsurely as she looks into the big brown eyes of the girl hovering WAYYY too close to her. She looks away towards the rest of her friends, eyes filled with desperation, begging for an out as the other girl drifts closer and closer to her with a searching hum until... 

“NOPE! I got nothin!” The girl pops away as quickly as she had appeared, now holding her hand out towards the group in greeting. “I’m Mako! And this is Ryuko and weeeeeee-” her voice drops into a low screamer growl, “ _ARE KILL LA KILL!!!”_

_“_ Woah, hi there.” Akko says both a little frightened and impressed by the girls vocal display. “We’re The Broomstix. I’m Akko, this is Sucy, Lotte, and Amanda, and these are our friends Jasminka and Constanze.” Akko says hesitantly shaking the other girl’s hand. 

“Oh!! I STOLE YOUR BARTENDER!” Mako perks up returning to her chipper voice, ripping her hand from Akko’s fingers and bringing her fist down into her open palm. “You’re welcome, by the way.” She finishes with a wink. 

“Wh-what?” Akko questions as everyone, including the girl with the Dean, looks confusedly at the girl in the face paint. 

“Well, break a leg out there!!!” The short girl beams before continuing her way down the hallway with her friend in her wake. 

The six girls stand in the hallway silently watching the pair exit onto the main showroom floor before Amanda breaks the tension with the click of her tongue. 

“Ooooooookaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy....well… uhhh…” She scratches her head before pointing the headstock of her bass towards the room the other two girls had just left. “Let’s go tune up huh?” 

“Yeeeeahhhhh…” Akko says slowly, still trying to wrap her head around that strange girl before snapping out of her confusion as Lotte nudges her towards the open doorway. 

“That was a little weir- Oh cool, the room’s empty!” Akko says looking around the green room, despite its name, it is actually a pale tan color. 

“I can’t imagine why.” Sucy quips as she approaches one of the worn couches against the wall and judgingly wiping at a (soda?) stain dyeing the fabric before taking a seat. 

“So, it looks like we’re going to be on second-to-last in the lineup.” Lotte says as she turns away from the crumpled band list hanging on the wall beside the doorway. “So we have a little while until we have to really start getting ready.” 

“Ey, that’s not too bad.” Amanda says as she plops herself down on a ripped up ottoman opposite Akko who had situated herself on the couch beside Sucy. She plucks at her bass as the brunette listens closely to the sound, tuning her guitar. “Gives lover girl here a little time with the bae before her _big moment_.” 

Akko looks up with a troubled crease in her brow at the redhead fixing her with a cheeky smile and bouncing eyebrows. 

“About that actually…” the brunette says hesitantly as she absentmindedly finger picks at the strings of her guitar, “I was thinking maybe we... _don’t_... do the song...” 

“What?! Why not?!” Amanda sputters over the chorus of ‘huh’s coming from the rest of their friends. 

“I mean...” Akko scratches her cheek before returning her fingers to the fret board to anxiously run along the strings. “We only have enough time for a couple of songs, and… you’re the singer...” she looks towards Amanda, “Shouldn’t you be the one... singing? I mean… maybe tonight’s not the right time to...” 

“So you’re chickening out.” Sucy deadpans. 

“I’m not chickening out! I’m just…” she lets out a frustrated sigh before throwing her hands to her head. “Why did I think this was a good idea in the first place?! I couldn’t just _ask_ her to be my girlfriend like a _normal_ person? Why do I have to go out of my way to _try_ to embarrass myself in front of everyone?!” 

“Well, to be fair...being extra _is_ kind of your ‘normal’.” Sucy says continuing to look at her with a slight amusement peeking through her stoicism. “So is embarrassing yourself.” 

“It’s really not a big deal. We can just pick a different song and I can do it another time.” Akko says trying to mask the disappointment in herself as she attempts to resume tuning her guitar before Amanda throws her hand on the strings, muting them. 

“No way! Dude you were so set on this!” Amanda says craning her head to meet burgundy eyes. “Hey, we’ve been practicing for weeks, the song sounds great. What? Are you embarrassed by the song or are you afraid she’s gonna say no?” 

With a shrug of her shoulders Akko looks down and away from her friends’ eyes, distracting herself with the shiny bridge of her guitar and noting a patch of dust she must have missed while cleaning. 

“The song is fine Akko.” Lotte says as she seats herself beside Amanda on the ottoman opposite her. “And I thought you said things with you and Diana were going really well?” 

“From what you keep telling us about her, she seems to really like you.” Jasminka says from behind the couch as Constanze nods her head. “Do you really think she’d say no?” 

Crimson eyes look up, passing over her friends before a shy smile makes way for an almost inaudible laugh. “I guess I’m just nervous…” 

“Well, yeah… spilling your guts to a crowd can do that, but that’s never stopped you before.” Amanda says crossing her arms over the bass sitting in her lap. 

“I know...just…” Akko bites her lip before sighing, relenting to the thoughts that had been itching at her mind. “She’s just...so _smart_. And when we talk about what she’s doing in school… guys, I don’t understand anything she’s talking about.” She says as she looks down to her hands resting against the body of her guitar. “Why...would she want anything to do with _me_?” 

“To be fair, in comparison, most people are smarter than you. So that’s not a really good reason.” Sucy says with one eye on the brunette before Lotte tries and fails to kick her leg. 

“Akko, what makes you think that anything like that matters to her?” Lotte questions. “It’s not like you’re trying to compete with her. Everybody has different things they’re good at.” 

“But this...playing music… is all I can do. What if it’s not enough for her? I thought I was, but... I don’t know if I’m ready to find out.” Crimson eyes fall sadly down to the bridge of the guitar as she begins picking at it in an attempt to remove the leftover dust. “And then what if I mess up? Or forget the lyrics to my own song?? This could easily be the _best_ or the _worst_ day of my life!” 

“Are you done?” 

“Huh?” The brunette looks up from her guitar. 

“Are. You. Done?” Amanda repeats leaning forward over her bass. “First off… You are more than just that pretty face and a guitar ya know…” 

“We can go over our list again if you want.” Jasminka says with a smile. 

“Second, come on! You’re always talking about the thrill of performing for people, making them feel and whatever. This is the biggest crowd we’ve ever performed for, and you’re losing your cool on performing for the one person you’re actually trying to say something to?” Unwavering green eyes bore into red. “Akko, from where I’m sitting, where we’re _all_ sitting,” Amanda says waving her hand around gesturing at the rest of the group, “it's obvious to see that that girl is coming here for _you_. Not the band, not even your music, but for _you_.” 

“But—” Akko is cut off by the spikey haired redhead. 

“Akko I’m gonna tell you... _and we're FRIENDS_... If I had a schedule like hers and had a night off to relax... unless I was thirsty and wanted me some Kagari, you think I’d go out of my way to come out here and watch you trip over some cords?” Amanda winks earning a quick jab in the side from Jasminka and an exaggerated shake of the head from Sucy. “If you’re worried blondie’s gonna say no to having your Shiny Chariot tattooed arm draped over her shoulder, you have nothing to be all worked up about. Especially if she hears your song.” 

“And if she does say no... you dodged a blonde, snob shaped bullet.” Sucy says with a shrug. “I’m not seeing a downside.”

“It’s still your song Akko.” Lotte says, putting a hand on the brunette’s shoulder drawing burgundy eyes from Sucy’s unappealing, yet weirdly comforting logic. “It’s your words, your feelings… if you’re really not ready to share them we’re not going to force you.” The redhead shoots a warning look over at Amanda who childishly widens her eyes as if to say ‘I know!’. “But... I think you’d really connect to a lot of people if you were.”

Akko looks around at her friends as she bites her lip thinking. 

She wants to perform it… and she wants Diana to know exactly how she feels about her. Ever since the night they met, her mind had been working as a factory, spitting out lyric after lyric soaked in the inspiration brought on by the blonde-haired girl who had bought her a drink. The music came naturally and the more she wrote the more of her heart spilled onto the page overflowing with lyrics, so much so that in order to keep the song at a reasonable length she had to cut half a page to save for another day. 

Akko’s been ready for weeks, but asking someone to take the next step into a relationship over a text message just didn’t seem right to her. She wanted to show Diana how much she means to her, to give her her heart in the purest way she knows how… and while she could have recorded the song on her own and sent it to her, Akko wanted to give the girl who outshines even the most blinding of stage lights a moment as special as she is. 

The night of their movie date she had wanted so badly to touch her lips to the blonde’s. The way the streetlight shone so softly on her face, the way her eyelashes caught the light as she looked back at her with what she could only liken to the inviting lapping of a sunbaked tide upon a shoreline made it almost painful to instead redirect herself over the blonde’s shoulder for a hug goodbye. So badly she had wanted to let her know… but it wasn’t right. It wasn’t special enough. 

But tonight is the perfect night and Akko knew it from the second Diana responded to her invite with ‘ _I will be there’._ However, in that same moment of anticipation and excitement, the doubts she had been having began to dance wildly around her mind. 

But her friends are right. They _had_ been doing well, and even though their conversations had gotten shorter and further apart because of their busy schedules, Diana did still say she wanted to come see her… 

And if Hannah’s earlier text while Diana was driving is any indicator... 

This is her chance... 

Even if Diana says no… this is her best shot... but... 

“I want to do the song.” Akko says decisively with a determined pinch in her brow. “But…do you think I should, you know… _say_ it’s for her?” She says before jumping, surprised by the feeling of her phone vibrating. 

“I mean, if she’s a quarter as smart as you say she is, it should be obvious whether you tell her or not.” Sucy says. “Do you want to flat out say it in front of everybody?” 

“I don’t know! Cause then what happens if she doesn’t want to? I don’t want to embarrass _both_ of us...” Akko, shifting aside her guitar to get at her pocket, looks up at Sucy as the pink haired girl crosses her legs over one another. 

Akko fishes her phone out of her pocket and can’t help but smile softly at Diana’s name at the top of the screen. 

‘ _We just came in. It looks like you have a big crowd tonight! Where are you?’_

_“_ Are they here?” Amanda asks craning her neck eavesdropping on Akko’s phone as the brunette nods her head and taps in a reply. 

_‘ :D I’ll be right out!’_

After hitting send Akko holds her phone tightly in her hands as her left leg begins to nervously bounce. 

“Okay…” She takes a deep breath before whining, “I still don’t know what I’m doing gu~ys!” 

“Well, why don’t you stop thinking about it for a little bit and go out and see her!” Lotte says with a kind smile while laying her hand on Akko’s bouncing knee. “It’s been a while since you’ve gotten to be with her, maybe you’ll know what to do once you get the chance to talk to her.” 

The brunette lifts her head to look at the keyboardist with a hum before redirecting her eyes to her vibrating phone at Diana’s response. 

_‘We’ll be on the staircase to the balcony. I have something for you.’_

A warm giddiness bubbles in her chest as Akko cocks her head in curiosity at the message before distractedly looking up at Sucy who had put her hand on her shoulder, pushing herself up off the couch. 

“It’s gonna be fine.” The drummer says lifting herself up and twisting her back eliciting a couple satisfying pops. “If you decide to do it… cool, if you don’t… whatever.” 

“Yeah, and if she somehow doesn’t get the hint, you could always ask her afterwards like a normie.” Amanda says standing up from the ottoman, careful not to hit anyone with her bass as a smiling Constanze stands beside her with a thumbs up, holding up the back of their set list with the words ‘YOU’VE GOT THIS’ and a big smiley face written in marker. “C’mon let’s go put the guitars back and go meet up with blondie and her friends.” 

“It’s going to be a fun night.” Lotte grins, giving Akko’s knee a pat before standing. “Let’s go. You don’t want to make her nervous, do you?”

* * *

After returning backstage and dropping off their equipment, the girls walk down the hallway and make their way back into the main crowd floor that had filled substantially since their arrival. Stepping into the large room they are arrested by the sound of interim music playing loudly over the speakers as they walk through the sea of people awaiting the start of the show. 

_This really is the biggest crowd we’ve ever played for…_

_I mean… it will be if they stay until we go on…_

_Ah man… Maybe I won’t have to worry about embarrassing myself in front of everyone if the only person left in the audience is Dia-_

Lotte bumps into Akko’s back as she stops frozen in the middle of the crowded floor, shining eyes and slightly slackened jaw directed towards the stairs leading to the balcony. 

There she was, brow pinched with eyes scanning the venue floor, sporting slightly disheveled blonde hair (that Akko can see is due to the passing herds of people going to and from the top bar), and the reflection of the fairy lights blinking from shade to shade painting her face and shoulders as she stands crammed against the stair railing alongside her friends. The only time Akko had seen anything nearly as beautiful, was the night when she noticed the giggling blonde beside her at the bar. 

Standing motionless within the surrounding storm of pulsing energy, Akko watches unsure if the thrumming reverberating through her body is the bass playing over the loudspeakers or if it’s her heart thundering in her chest. It is only when Diana looks her way and meets cerulean to crimson that the pulsing music mutes and the surging crowd vanishes. The room freezes, the flickering lights pause on a violet tint bathing the both of them as they see one another through the formless figures between them. Akko watches, despite the frozen world around them, as Diana’s lips curl up into the brightest smile, a half moon shining through a dark night sky, and can’t help feel her own spread across her face in return like the water of the ocean mirroring the radiance of the moonlight.

And then suddenly as though the world realized it couldn’t refuse its rotation any longer, the sounds of the crowd and stereo flood back to Akko’s ears, drowning out the sound of Diana’s voice as she calls out something that looks suspiciously like her name. 

Akko waves her hand at the blonde and her two friends looking towards her. Before Diana is even given the chance to raise her hand to wave back, the auburn-haired girl begins guiding her and the other dark-haired girl down the staircase towards Akko’s group. 

Akko didn’t even realize she had been wading through the crowd, moving closer to the base of the staircase while watching the three girls make their way towards her. 

Like a magnet, the closer Diana gets, the stronger Akko’s urge to run towards her prickles at her legs. It is really only because of the thick moving crowd between them that the brunette hadn’t torn through the audience to tackle her. 

Having her in photographs was one thing, but seeing her after so long; every twitch of her eyelashes as she looks around moving through the ebb and flow of the surrounding crowd, her smile taking on countless shapes, each more beautiful than the last, the breath of life in each movement painting a new picture, a new masterpiece, slowly stealing her breath away in each passing moment...makes Akko realize that although they had spoken often, she doesn’t think she had ever missed someone so much. 

And at last, their separation ceases to exist. 

There she was, an arm’s length away... blue eyes search red as they stand paused with thrumming desire in their hearts and hesitance tugging back on their shoulders and trapping their breath. 

But Akko was done waiting. 

The brunette leaps forward wrapping her arms around the blonde crashing their bodies together. She feels Diana’s arms wrap around her shoulders almost greedily, prompting her to squeeze just a little tighter as she wiggles in the hug and nuzzles her cheek into the blonde’s neck, feeling the other girl rest her chin against her hair. 

After a far shorter time than she really wanted to, Akko pulls away with a hot blush hidden by the pulsing tinted lights and beams at the blonde staring back at her with a smile and blush of her own. 

“Y-you look beautiful.” Diana says softly. 

Akko cocks her head and turns her ear towards the blonde. “What?!” 

“You look beautiful!!” Diana shouts louder this time, positive it was loud enough for the brunette to hear over the music based on the reaction of a flustered smile. 

“M-me? Look at you!” Akko yells gesturing her arms towards the blonde. She grins at the sight of the other girl trying to hide her shy smile before leaning in a little closer. “I missed you.” 

Diana’s face grows warmer as she squints her eyes, the reflection of fairy lights dancing on the blue of her irises 

“I’ve missed you as well.” She says before both she and Akko fall quiet amongst the volume around them, lost in the proximity of the other. 

“AHEM!” 

Diana, snapping out of her daze, turns around to face Hannah, who, with a motion of her chin, holds out a small, but beautiful bouquet of red and white flowers. 

“O-oh yes, thank you Hannah.” Diana spins around taking the previously forgotten flowers with her. “I brought these for you. As a good luck of sorts.” 

Akko takes the bouquet as it is handed to her, her heart swelling from the gesture. She brings the flowers to her nose and takes a sniff before pulling them to her chest and lifting her head with a smile that could put the sun to shame. 

“You didn’t have to bring me anything!” 

“Well, I wanted to.” Diana smiles warmly before looking at her slyly and quirking her mouth. “I thought they were lovely and was reminded of you.” 

Akko, very thankful that the lights were masking her beet red face (at least, it _feels_ beet red), wiggles in place holding the flowers tighter. “Well...Th-thank you.” 

“Ey, lilies huh?” Amanda walks over, clapping Akko on the shoulder before looking up at the blonde with teasing green eyes. “How very gay of you.” 

Lotte slaps her shoulder, knocking the smirk off her face replacing it with faux shock. 

“I mean sweet. Very sweet...” She says quickly before shooting a wink towards Hannah and Barbara who return the look with slightly narrowed eyes. 

“Oh durr...” Akko slaps her head with her free hand. “Let me introduce you! This is-“ 

“Amanda.” Diana says with a small humored smile. 

“Oh? So you remember me?” 

“Well of course. You left quite an impression at our first meeting.” The blondes teasing smile widens as she sees the redhead’s bravado begin to turn sheepish. 

Akko, remembering the night a _very_ drunken, quite filter-less, Amanda flung herself over her shoulders in front of Diana, bites her lip to keep from laughing at the redhead’s expression as she tries to think back through her alcohol induced haze for any particularly embarrassing occurrences before turning back to face the blonde. 

“My apologies,” The smirk on Diana’s face slips away to take on a genuine smile as she looks around the rest of the group. “Please go on, I… don’t believe I have met anyone else…” 

“No worries!” Akko smiles with a laugh before turning to the rest of her group and gesturing down the line. “This is Lotte, Sucy, Jasminka and Constanze.” As their names are called, they wave, nod their heads, and in Jasminka’s case, holds out her hand for a firm handshake at being introduced to the blonde. 

“And you guys already know Diana.” Akko says scooting over towards the blonde and lightly bumping her shoulder with her own. 

“Oh yeah, we know plenty.” Sucy smirks causing the brunette to blush further. 

“It’s very nice to finally meet you all.” Diana says clearing her throat, displacing any nervousness brought up by the pink-haired girl’s comment. She then turns towards her auburn and dark-haired friends behind her and gestures them forward. “These are my closest friends, Hannah and Barbara.” 

The two girls step forward with greetings and the waving of hands before stopping in their tracks as Akko leaps in front of them. 

“So _YOU’RE_ the Hannah and Barbara that made Diana go to the bar the night we met!” Akko grins ear to ear at the two girls who stand a little taken back by her energy. They had not expected that type of personality out of someone that had caught the interest of their Diana. 

“The two and only!” Barbara says proudly before being suddenly pulled into a tight hug alongside Hannah. 

After a moment passes, Akko pulls back with a big smile across her face, removing her arms from around the two slightly confused girls. 

Rigid and wide-eyed from the unexpected embrace, Hannah and Barbara look at one another unsurely and then towards Diana who they see biting her lip, attempting to stifle an amused smile. 

Seeing the exchange of looks, the grin on Akko’s face slowly falls as her blood runs cold. With the fear that she had just ruined her first real impression on Diana’s best friends, Akko scrambles back a step to give them a little more space before putting her hands up submissively. “S-sorry! I- I just wanted to thank you!” She worries, scratching the back of her head. “I-I mean, we probably wouldn’t have met if you didn’t… you know… so thanks.” 

“O-oh,” Barbara speaks up first to her recovery, loosening her posture. “It was no problem! Diana might be the one with the book smarts but we’re the ones with _all_ the good ideas.” She smiles waving her hand as she slyly looks over her shoulder at blonde eyebrows raising at her comment. “She’d be socially hopeless without us dragging her out of her room and helping her find clothes.” 

“That _was_ what happened wasn’t it?” Hannah hums scratching her chin as she looks over towards the blonde looking at the two of them incredulously. “And after all our hard, _selfless_ work...Where is _your_ gratitude, huh?” She winks teasingly at Diana who was now rolling her eyes with a chuckle. “Actually, we should be the ones thanking you. It was real fun getting the chance to see miss _‘poised and promising’_ get all flustered over your first date.” 

Diana’s chuckle is instantly replaced with a stony seriousness only betrayed by the blush heating her cheeks. 

“ _Oh,_ _were_ you now?” Cooing, Akko spins to face the blonde who, at the connection of their eyes, begins to fidget.

“Okay, girls that’s enough. _Please_.” Diana begs with as much decorum as she can muster. 

“Oh, no. I think I’d like to hear this story.” Akko teases with an ever-growing grin as she leans in, noting the extent of the blush the closer she gets to the blonde. 

“Oh, don’t pretend like you weren’t panicking around the apartment that entire morning…” A playful smirk stretches across Sucy’s face as she stands with folded arms looking pointedly at the brunette. 

“Hey!” Akko turns, threatening the drummer with sharp eyes and a puff of her cheeks. 

Their banter is cut short as the DJ’s playlist makes way for the sound of upbeat distorted guitar to filter through the PA system into the crowded room. A slight ring of feedback causes the girls to turn their attention towards the stage to see the first band kicking off their set in front of layers of cheering audience members pushed as closely to the performance as possible. 

For a moment Diana looks at the stage, marvelling at the sudden change of energy whirling around the room at the introduction of the live musicians. She watches mesmerized by the crowd, far larger than the one at the bar she met Akko amongst, pulsing in and out of vision from the flickering lights as it moves as one, swirling and surging hypnotizingly to the music from the lively group on stage. When she returns her attention back towards Akko, she sees the girl looking back at her with a soft smile. 

“Hey! Akko!” Amanda yells out, just barely loud enough to be heard through the guitars and drums busting through the speakers. “We’re going up closer! You guys gonna stand there looking at each other all weird or are you coming?” 

Akko rolls her eyes at the winking redhead before turning back to face the blonde and holding out her free hand. Looking between her and Hannah and Barbara who were watching the band with cocked heads, Akko leans in to be heard easier. “Do you want to try to find a spot a little closer?” 

“Sure!” Diana yells back at her as she takes the brunette’s hand, surprised by the roughness of the calluses on her fingers. 

_I suppose she has been practicing a lot…_

“We’re going to go get drinks first!” Hannah yells as she points over her shoulder towards the bar beneath the balcony. “You want anything?” She asks the blonde and brunette. 

“N-nothing for me, but thank you!” Akko says surprised that the other girl’s hazel eyes inquired directly at her. “I don’t really like to drink before getting on stage.” 

The two girls shrug before turning their eyes towards Diana, who declines the drink offer with the wave of her free hand. “I am alright. Thank you.” 

“Alright then!” Hannah says as she and Barbara turn to scout the best way through the crowd to the bar before slowly pushing through and shouting, “We’ll catch up to you guys in a little bit!” and disappearing into the crowd with one last shout from Barbara. 

“Take care of her for us Akko!” 

The blonde bites at her cheek to hold her expression while the brunette turns to her with a full smile, just happy that she didn’t seem to ruin her first impression with Diana’s friends. 

“So, are you ready?” Akko shouts, pulling the blonde out of her moment of embarrassment. 

“L-lead the way.” Diana responds with a small squeeze to their joined hands. 

The brunette’s large smile returns as she holds tightly to Diana in one hand and the bouquet in the other, holding it close to her chest. “Stay close and follow me.” she says with a wink before leading the blonde through the crowd following Amanda and the others. 

After pushing through a couple groups of people, moderately damaging her flowers in the process (to which Akko apologizes profusely and Diana insists on taking the fault for not anticipating that the flowers may not fare too well in a crowd), Akko leads Diana to the rest of their friends settled in the middle of the floor just left of the center of the stage. 

Hand still safely in Akko’s, Diana looks over to the brunette as they find their places among the moving crowd. With the sound of the band’s singer belting into the mic, crimson eyes look over to meet cerulean. The beat of the drums, the bass thrumming through the speakers resonate through them both, the music pulsing in time with each leap of their hearts, tying them into the moment, connecting with the music in a way only the two will ever know. The crowd seems to disappear around them, as only the music and the caressing of intertwined fingers are felt between them. Diana smiles shyly, brushing her hair back behind her ear as she looks softly at the brunette. 

_I want to do this._

Akko smiles, searching the blonde’s eyes for any sign of understanding of the words running through her mind. 

_I don’t care how ridiculous I might look up there, I want you to know how special you are to me…_

Akko sees Diana’s mouth move but is unable to discern what she says over the particularly loud drum fill that seemed to start the moment she began to speak. 

“What did you say?” Akko yells, leaning in a little closer. 

Diana takes a breath and moves forward to respond, however, she is bumped slightly closer than anticipated by a passerby pushing through. 

It was not like she had been shoved off balance, however, the new proximity she finds herself to the brunette’s shining red eyes and parted lips threaten the stability of her knees regardless. If they were but a half inch closer their noses would brush, though, they were still close enough for Diana to feel the other girl’s breath wash over her lips. 

It would be so easy to slip forward into the other girl, to finally meet as she had been wanting to for weeks... 

But… 

_I can’t… If she’s not ready, I don’t want to ruin tonight… I can’t do that to he-_

“H-hey, are you okay?” Akko asks after a moment of silence, the mixture of concern and nervousness evident in her voice pulls Diana out of her thoughts. “Wh- uh… what were you saying?” She struggles out of her throat as she feels her face burning up from the scent of Diana’s perfume overtaking her senses. 

“Oh, yes, I’m sorry. Um…” Racking her brain as she tries to remember what she had wanted to ask, Diana at last regains her composure and recalls the very reason she was invited out tonight. “W-when are you supposed to be going on?” 

“Oh, um.” Akko gulps before squinting her eyes forcing herself to think back to what Lotte had said. “We’re uh… second-to-last.” 

“Ah.” The blonde breathes out in understanding, not necessarily sure why she asked the question in the first place (she was going to stay regardless) … perhaps it was just because she wanted to talk to the brunette... but still, although her question has been answered, she finds it is extraordinarily difficult to bring herself to move away from the two pools of inviting crimson and sweet-scented breath of the girl before her. 

Meanwhile, Akko finds herself lost in thought as she falls further and further into Diana’s eyes. She’s fighting herself, trying her damndest to remember how to swim in cerulean oceans, but she finds that all of her willpower is being used to keep from letting the magnetism pull her lips to the blonde’s. 

_Not yet Akko… It’s not... the right... TIME!_

After a few moments of agonizing mental convincing, Akko and Diana’s gazes are broken as a pale hand slaps the brunette’s shoulder. 

“Hey… you two gonna get a room or what?” Sucy shouts as the others look at them with a mix of eagerly raised eyebrows and cheeky grins, except for Lotte who was clearly just pretending she hadn’t noticed their moment to give them some privacy. 

The two blush at the realization that the band on stage was no longer the only ones with an audience and jump back from one another. 

“Boo!” Amanda yells with a thumbs down at the two as they pull away. 

“Shut up Amanda!” Akko yells red-faced as Jasminka physically turns the spikey haired girl back towards the stage. 

She sighs before turning back to face the blonde sheepishly. “Pleeeease don’t let her make you regret coming tonight.” 

Diana responds with a chuckle and assuring eyes. “Regret is the furthest thing from my mind. Don’t you worry.” 

Akko’s nervous smile turns relieved as she looks down between them for the blonde’s hand she had let go of in their haste for space. She reaches down, lacing her fingers between Diana’s before giving her hand a light squeeze and returning her eyes to the blonde’s. 

“I-I’m glad you’re here.” 

Diana's heart melts at the sight of the genuine happiness evident in the brunette’s expression. She takes a moment to control the wild beating in her chest before she smiles in return, allowing her thumb to caress the other girl’s knuckle. “I am too.”

* * *

During the performances, although they couldn’t hear one another enough to really hold a conversation over the sound of the bands, the feeling of the other pressed against their shoulders, the rubbing of intertwined fingers, and the soft locking of eyes and gentle smiles meeting through the flashing lights spoke volumes. 

The language between the two harmonize with each strum of a guitar to every crash of a cymbal. The melodies carry them through, leaving moment after moment of touches and glances in its wake for the two to pick up in their memories of the night. The music, replaced with the soundtrack of racing thoughts and beating hearts, grants the layout for a unique connection only the two of them can share. 

As they bathe in the music, Akko's hand in hers, Diana thinks back to that night in the bar and of the brunette’s impassioned words about the feeling of performing. She looks around at Hannah and Barbara who had returned to her side a song and a half in, enjoying the performance as much as Akko’s group of friends seemed to be and she couldn’t help but feel that this was the shared wavelength the brunette had spoken of. 

And while she can’t imagine the band knows what they’re making _her_ feel, she’s quite certain that this closeness she feels to the girl next to her is what Akko meant when she said that there’s a power in sharing music with others. 

During the lull of music between bands, the group grows friendly as they talk over the DJ’s playlist filling the interim. Barbara and Lotte hit it off when the dark-haired girl commented on the redhead’s t-shirt with a graphic of one of her favorite books, Hannah and Jasminka got talking about mixed drinks prompting Amanda to challenge the auburn haired girl to a drinking contest. Much to everyone’s relief, Constanze put the challenge on hold, managing to take a pouting Amanda’s wallet, preventing her from getting drunk until after the show. 

And Akko and Diana, while content with just being close to the other, take advantage of any chance they can to hear the other’s voice. As their conversation carries on, talking about nothing in particular, all the worry from earlier in the evening, all the anxiety built up over the last few weeks vanish completely as they fall into the comfort of the other engulfs them completely. 

At one point during _Kill la Kill’s_ performance, (Akko, finding herself impressed by the goth screamo feel of the girls she ran into coming out of the green room, and Diana, who when the brunette snuck a look, was not appearing to have much appreciation for the genre), the brunette had wound up with her arm around Diana’s waist. Akko’s initial intention was not of becoming wrapped around the other girl. 

It had started as her pulling her away from an oncoming patron weaving drunkenly through the crowd, but once the danger had passed, Akko couldn’t bring herself to release the blonde. Not that Diana minded in the slightest... when she had noticed that the brunette hadn't instantly pulled her arm away, she smiled and took a deep, confidence willing breath before lifting her arm and draping it around the other girl’s shoulders. 

And there they stood happy to be with the other, song after song, getting slightly bolder with each passing set as wanderlust hands shyly toy with the feel of the other, tamely, but definitely inspired by the wild energy of the crowd and music surrounding them. So lost in the embrace of the girl around her, Akko nearly forgot she was there for a reason until Amanda came up to the two of them and put her hand on the brunette’s shoulder. 

“Hey, Akko… sorry to interrupt…” the redhead says with a wiggle of her eyebrows when she notes the whereabouts of Akko’s hand resting on the blonde’s hip. “But we’re up after these guys so we’re heading backstage. Soo…” She draws out the last vowel looking between the two girls as they slowly come to the realization that they will have to separate from one another. 

Diana comes to the conclusion first and smiles at the brunette as Akko turns with apologetic eyes. Although, at the sight of Diana’s smile, a wave of confidence crashes over her shoulders, causing a smile of her own to bubble up in her cheeks. 

The blonde gives Akko’s arm a light squeeze before unwrapping herself from around the brunette. “You better get going then, I suppose,” her smile never faltering, “I’ll be right here cheering you on.” 

Akko’s grin grows as she slides her arm off of Diana’s waist, catching the blonde’s retreating hand. 

It might just be the lights making her delirious or that rush of sudden confidence disguising itself as courage (or both), but she contemplates pulling the other girl’s hand up to her face and leaving a soft kiss on her knuckles just like in the movies, however, she stops herself with strengthened resolve and resorts to a gentle squeeze to her fingers. 

_After. I can do it after._

“I’ll uh… I’ll see you after okay?” The brunette says with a shy smile as she sways her and Diana’s hands between them. “Let me know what you think.” 

“Of course. I’m sure you’ll be wonderful.” Diana says with confidence before squeezing the other girl’s hand one last time before releasing her grip, quite certain by the look in crimson eyes, that if she didn’t take the initiative they would stand like this long past the end of the current band’s set. “Good luck.” 

“Don’t think we’ll need it with you cheering us on-” Akko says with a wink and a lopsided smile before being grabbed by the shoulders by Lotte and Sucy and being dragged off towards the stage. 

“Alright Casanova… say ‘farewell’ and let's get moving.” Sucy says dryly. “You’re the one who takes the longest to set up remember?” 

“I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE SHOW!!!” Akko shouts back at the blonde before turning and following her friends, disappearing into the crowd. 

“You know,” Amanda says slipping in closer towards Diana, Hannah, and Barbara, “you three can come backstage and watch if you want. We’ve got a little bit of _‘banding time_ ’ we gotta do before we go on, but if you want to head back with Jas and Cons when we’re setting up, they can show you the ropes of being an official groupie.” The redhead winks as Constanze throws her one small middle finger. “Up to you though.” She shrugs. “Though… I’m sure Akko’d love to show you the view from the stage. There ain’t much else like it...” She says with one last wink at Diana before spinning around leaving the three with Jasminka and Constanze and heading off after the rest of her bandmates. 

“Well _that’s_ decided then.” Hannah, grinning and with eyebrows raised, waves her hand before looking knowingly at Diana. “So you two are looking like you’re having a nice time.” 

“Hate to say we told ya so, buuut...” Barbara says sliding up next to the hazel eyed girl and looking towards the blonde sporting a growing blush. 

“Girls, please...” Diana says, lifting her hand to her mouth in an attempt to hide the smitten smile that just won’t seem to leave her lips. “Y-you should finish your drinks. I can’t imagine they’d let you on the stage with them...” 

* * *

“Soooo, what do you think now?” Amanda asks once the whole band stands together in the hallway outside the doorway to backstage. She leans in, hands on the brunette’s shoulders. “You gonna make us change the setlist?” 

“No. I want to do the song.” Akko grins, balling her fists at her sides with a sturdy resolve. “I’m ready.” 

“Yes!” Amanda cheers, slapping at her shoulder. 

“It’s about time.” Sucy says with an almost unperceivable smile. “It looked like the two of you were about to start going at it on the floor.” 

“No you weren’t!” Lotte chimes in as she sees a red faced and aghast Akko whirl to face the drummer. “Don’t listen to her Akko. We’re happy for you.” 

Akko smiles at the overwhelming support of her friends before shaking her head, taking a large breath, and exhaling out through puffed cheeks. “Alright… now I just have to do it without messing up.” 

“Ah… the real obstacle here.” Sucy teases before receiving a roll of the eyes from the brunette. 

“I’m sure it’s going to be fine.” Lotte was with a smile. “We’ve been practicing, and we’ve done most of the songs before… it’s just like any other performance. Let’s have fun with it like we always do.” 

“For real…don’t think about it too hard,” Amanda says as she drapes her arm across Akko’s shoulders and taps her finger to the brunette’s forehead, “And if you forget the words to your own song, just make something up. It’s not like anybody’ll really know you messed up...” 

“Just try not to trip over yourself.” Sucy advises. “...and don’t look at me like that’s not something that you are absolutely capable of.” 

The pout on Akko’s face morphs into one of reluctant understanding. “It’s not like it’s on purpose…” 

“Ladies, you’re _The Broomstix_ right?” The man in the staff shirt from earlier asks as he steps out into the hallway. The girls nod. “These guys are wrapping up so I’d recommend starting to get your gear together…” he says looking down at the clipboard in his hands, “-and it looks like one of the members of _Claiomh Solais_ had gotten hurt crowd surfing in the fifth act, so it looks like you will be closing the show.” 

“Ooh, that’s rough…” Amanda winces. 

“Thank you! We’ll be right in.” Lotte says cheerily to the man before he turns and returns backstage mumbling something about ‘telling the woman not to drink too much’. 

“Alright! Looks like this is it!” Amanda claps her hands together before throwing her fist into the center of their band circle. “Here’s hoping the crowd doesn’t just disappear! Any last words?” 

After a moment Akko speaks up. “Thank you for helping me with this, guys...” She says as she and the other two girls meet Amanda’s fist with their own. 

“You’ve got nothing to thank us for,” Lotte says nudging the brunette’s hand. “You know we’re here for you no matter what.” 

“Yeah, unless you mess up too badly.” The pink haired girl says with a smile. “Then we _miiight_ have to think a little more before helping you next time.” She winks. 

Akko lets out a snort before smiling warmly at her friends. 

It’s then that they hear the sound of the crowd cheering on the band as they finish their last song. 

“Okay guys! Sounds like we’re up.” Amanda grins determinedly. “Let’s play a hell of a show… and most importantly... help Akko get a girlfriend!” 

* * *

As the band deconstructs their gear and moves off the stage, Diana, Hannah, and Barbara are led through the crowd by Jasminka and Constanze towards the hallway to the back. 

Once the group makes their way through the doorway leading to the performance area, Jasminka goes straight to work grabbing pieces of Sucy’s drum kit and setting them up on stage while Constanze gestures for the three of them to stand by the gear before heading off after her. 

It was… not nearly as glamorous as one is led to believe backstage would be- lots of tape on the floors, graffiti, forgotten papers and empty cans undoubtedly from the staff littering the setting- but still, there is absolutely a different feel of inclusion being behind the curtain than standing among the crowd. 

Diana looks out onto the stage to see Akko trailing the proper cords from the outlet to her amplifier and amplifier to guitar. She watches as she lifts her leg to rest on the amplifier, holding the electric guitar on her thigh as she puts her ear to the body of the instrument and begins plucking at the strings for what Diana assumes is a last-minute tuning. When the brunette finishes she then watches her turn towards the crowd, the hot lights beating on her face, making the crestfallen look on her face abundantly clear as her eyes scan over the crowd. Only when Akko turns towards the side stage and sees the now waving blonde and her friends standing by the rest of their gear does her face shine far brighter than the illumination of the lights. 

Akko quickly unplugs her guitar and bounces off towards them, the smile growing on Diana’s face with each bob of her ponytail. 

A few hops later she stops before her, readjusting the orientation of her guitar as not to bang it against anything or anyone. “Hey! What are you doing back here?” 

Based on the reaction, Diana assumes Amanda had not OK’d her invitation with the brunette. “We had been offered to watch from backstage. Is that alright?” 

“Oh! Yeah! Definitely!!! Actually... I don’t know why I didn’t ask you before...” 

“Probably because you were thinking about something else…” Sucy says passing by with a hi-hat in her hands. 

Akko shrugs, not particularly caring. It is then that a light-bulb pops into her head, putting a sparkle in her eyes. 

Now that Diana was back here… 

“Hey, you guys should come here a sec…” The brunette says as she heads back towards the lighted stage with an inviting hand. “It's preeettyyy coo~ooool.” 

The three walk up after her along the stretch of curtain until the brunette stops and excitedly gestures out with her chin towards the crowd. 

Diana steps to the edge of the curtain with the other two at her side and peeks out into the audience. 

Despite the many who had cleared out of the bar throughout the night, there were still a large amount of people filling the floor. The hot stage lights, the pounding music, the vantage over the crowd and the clear view of the balcony and all its patrons, Diana finds, is all very different from the experience on the ground. She isn’t even performing, but the spotlight beating down quickens her pulse and tempts her to pull back away from feeling so exposed. 

In a way, it reminds her of the nervous feeling she once had when conducting flute ‘recitals’ for her mother, but this was not an audience of one having her quaking in her shoes, this was a crowd of strangers… she couldn’t imagine stepping out from behind the curtain. 

Diana takes her eyes away from the room spanning in front of her, partially blurred by the glare of the light and meets crimson eyes watching her in return. 

And she’s reminded that there Akko stands, just short of front and center, ready to be bared to them all, living for the exhilarating rush that is prickling at the hair of her arms. 

“It’s crazy right?” 

A certain type of bravery that Diana doesn’t think she could conjure. Sure there were presentations and demonstrations for school curriculum, but those are to show and prove knowledge in a learned subject, this… everyone who had stepped on this stage had held out a piece of their heart to be shared and judged by an audience free from obligation. 

As she continues to look into crimson eyes, Diana feels a strong admiration for the girl standing under the heat of pressure showing zero indication of cracking. 

“It’s quite something...” The blonde says without shifting her eyes. 

“Akko!” Amanda calls out, leaning away from the microphone. “Hey! Are you ready?” 

“Y-Yeah! Just gotta plug in!” The brunette scrambles patting herself down making sure she has her picks and capo on her. Once her inventory is taken she turns back to the three girls who had backed up behind the curtain out of view of the audience. “I’ll uh… I’ll talk to you after! I hope you like it!” The brunette says with an evident twinge of nervousness in her voice. 

“I’m sure I will.” The blonde smiles, the warmth from the stage lights acting as no contest for the heat in her chest. “Good luck!” 

A beaming smile fills Akko’s face as she turns and picks up the cord connected to her amplifier. With a small buzz of feedback and sending an experimental strum of a rich power chord throughout the room, the brunette turns to the singer with a thumbs up. 

As Amanda pulls the microphone to her, Akko takes a glance over towards the side where cerulean eyes watch her and gives their owner a wink. 

“Good evening everybody!!!” Amanda projects into the microphone as she adjusts the strap of her bass over her shoulder. “Looks like we’re the last band y’all are seeing tonight so we’ll try to leave you with a good time alright?!” 

She is met with a slightly drunken enthusiastic cheer. 

“Alright! On the drums... we have Sucy Manbavaran!” Sucy raises a stick before playing a run on her kit transitioning to a steady beat. 

“On the keys… we have Lotte Yanson!” The redheaded girl waves her hand before putting her fingers to the keys, playing chords along with Sucy’s cadence. 

“On guitar… Akko Kagari!” The brunette runs her fingers over the neck of the guitar in a brief solo for a show of skill before, too, following along with Lotte and Sucy’s rhythm with a guitar riff. 

“And I, Amanda O’Neill, will be your bass and vocals.” She says as she begins plucking at her bass strings. 

“And we…” Suddenly the stage goes quiet. 

“Are _The Broomstix._ ”

The band bursts to life with the intro to their first song, pounding drums and strong chords swirl through the room like a spirit preparing to take hold of whoever is willing to host it. 

Diana watches mesmerized at the look of unbridled joy dancing through the brunette’s face as she bounces around, waving her head to the very music she’s creating with each movement of her hands. 

She watches as the energy Akko and the rest of the band put on display seems to run contagiously throughout the audience. While the crowd had lost some size since the start of the night, the floor still moved with jumping and the flipping of hair as though their energy had been reborn with a new vigor. She finds herself impressed, not only by their musical skill, but by their talent as performers overall. 

Diana watches song after song, some sounding more familiar than others, as the group on stage maintain their energy throughout. Akko, during their performance of ‘ _Afterimage’ (_ a song Diana found herself softly singing along to what she could remember), continued to look over towards the blonde and smile, so much in fact that she nearly tripped over the cord connecting her guitar to the amplifier as she lost track of her footing. She caught herself, instantly looking back towards the blonde for fear of judgment only to be met with a worried brow and a silent mouthing of ‘are you okay?’. 

While Diana did find herself a little biased to the boundless energy and skilled fingers of the beautiful girl who held her heart, she could not ignore the rest of the girls on stage. She remembers the wild drumming from the first time she saw them perform, but it seemed that tonight Sucy was impressively outdoing herself. Lotte, while a little more stationary behind her keyboard, was clearly beyond skilled at playing, her eyes barely glancing down at the keys as she sings back-up simultaneously to Amanda, whose voice echoes through the room with a husky quality working in tandem with her fingers as she plays complex rhythms on the neck of her bass. 

They were all incredible, but Diana could not stop her eyes from drifting back to follow the brunette. 

As the night’s end comes closer, one of the staff comes up beside Diana, Hannah and Barbara and alerts _The Broomstix_ that they have time for one last song. The band acknowledges the reminder before Amanda looks over to Akko with the raising of her eyebrows. Diana watches as the brunette nods, taking several deep breaths before muddling with the settings on her amplifier. 

“You guys have been an incredible crowd tonight! Thank you so much!” Amanda, wiping away the dripping sweat from her brow, calls into the microphone to be answered with a chorus of ‘hoot’ing and applause. “Now, I know I said I was your singer tonight, but this last song is something special that my good pal Akko would like to perform. Akko?” Amanda says with a smile looking up to the brunette as she backs away from the microphone with a dramatic gesture. 

Diana watches in surprise and confusion as Akko steps up towards the lead singer’s microphone with a faux confidence. She feels her heart begin to race as she hears the brunette clear her throat into the microphone. However, the moment bright crimson eyes find hers beneath the light of the stage, her entire being stops. 

“Th-this song is for someone very special.” Akko takes a breath as she smiles. “I’m... pretty sure they might have a clue but… I just want them to see how much they mean to me…” 

Diana’s heart leaps into her throat as the brunette’s eyes refuse to leave her own. 

“Oh my god! Diana! She wrote you a song?!?!” Barbara jumps up and down excitedly slapping the blonde’s shoulder as Hannah stands off to the side covering her face trying to hide the tears brought on by the romantic gesture. 

Diana, in a slight state of shock continues to watch the brunette looking back at her. Akko, seemingly remembering that she is supposed to start the song she had just introduced, takes a nervous gulp before turning towards the audience and leaning in towards the mic. 

“So… ahem… this is...uh… this is ‘ _With You’.”_

With a deep breath Akko adjusts the capo on the neck of her guitar and begins plucking the strings, the chord sounding sweetly through the amplifier. 

Despite the sound of her beating heart in her ears, Diana immediately recognizes the song as the same Akko had played for her at the park. At the time there had been no words... but now- 

_"I don’t want to wake up unless it’s in your arms to your alarm."_

Akko slightly turns her face from the crowd, red irises drawn almost magnetically to Diana’s cerulean yet again. 

_"I don’t want to find out you were never here._

_I hesitate to pinch myself cause I don’t want to wake up to_

_A life without you._

_If you’re just a dream please let me sleep._

_If you’re just a dream please let me sleep."_

While Akko’s voice didn’t necessarily hold the same quality or experience as Amanda’s, by no means is she a bad singer. Diana had heard little bits when Akko had sung quietly to her that day in the park, but right now in this moment, to her, the brunette’s voice was perhaps one of the sweetest sounds that she has ever heard. 

_"Would you tell me you’re not just a thought in my reality?_

_That there’s a reason to feel the way I feel?_

_That my mind is justified in thinking of all I would do_

_whenever I see you?_

_If you’re just a dream please let me sleep._

_Cause there’s nowhere else I’d rather be…_

_Than with you._

_With you."_

A smattering of gently waving cell phone screens alight the audience floor like a sea of stars. 

While the view before her robs the blonde of her breath, the nearly magical sight goes unappreciated by the musician as Diana watches the brunette looking back at her, singing out the chorus of the song to her alone among the crowded room. 

Only when the chorus finishes does Akko re-face the crowd. Her fingers glide along the neck of her guitar in an instrumental transition for a short while before taking a breath and continuing to sing towards the crowd. 

_"Fortune’s played me, making me believe that our hearts could collide,_

_As though angels would walk on solid ground._

_I’d forsake the light of day if only just to get the chance_

_To hold your hand._

_If you’re just a dream please let me sleep._

_But if you’re real would you let me be…_

_With you._

_With you._

_With you._

_With you."_

A shift in sound takes over the music as Akko turns her eyes back to the blonde, her voice taking on a slightly more powerful tone causing goosebumps to rise on Diana’s forearms. 

_"The morning light shines in my eyes pulling me awake._

_Out of your arms, out of my head, into my lonely bed._

_Forced to blink away your sight, to pray it wasn’t our last night._

_I turn my head to check my phone...to see the words ‘good morning’ from you._

_If you’re just a dream please let me sleep._

_But if you’re here, stay and let me dream…_

_With you~"_

Akko sings softly, closing her eyes, lips resting softly against the windscreen of the microphone, drifting along with the picking of her fingers and the soft melody of Lotte’s keyboard playing behind her.

_"With you~"_

Akko’s voice transitions into an explosion, she gives herself distance as she belts repeated lines into the microphone. Her eyes scrunch shut as the words ‘with you’ echo through the building, the band behind her playing powerfully to match the vocals. 

As she finishes her chorus, the volume and strength fading to just more than a whisper, Akko plays a few measures of her instrumental riff before closing her eyes with one final breath and leaning in towards the mic. 

_"I don’t want to wake up unless it’s in your arms to yo~ur… alarm."_

As the last strum of her guitar dissipates out into the crowd, the galaxy of swaying phone screens jostle violently as the audience erupts into an explosive applause. 

Akko opens her eyes to the sound of hooting and hollering on a backdrop of clapping hands. A wide smile pulls across her cheeks before she blushes and scratches at her arm, a sheepishness taking her over before biting her lip nervously and glancing over towards Diana, who along with her two companions were cheering as wildly as the crowd. 

“Thank you everybody! Have a great night!!!” Amanda yells into the microphone as she comes up to Akko, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her proudly, soon to be followed by Lotte and Sucy leaving their instruments and joining the brunette and redhead at the head of the stage for a final bow. 

After a moment longer of standing in the stage light with the cheer of the audience fading to general chatter to the sound of the DJ’s playlist resuming over the loudspeakers, the group of girls turn to one another, Akko and Amanda shifting their instruments before throwing their arms around each other in a four-girl hug. 

“Dude. That was so great! You weren’t singing like _that_ during practice!” Amanda yells clapping Akko on the back. 

“ _MY_ singing?! Did you even hear what was coming out of _YOUR_ face?! You guys sounded amazing!!” Akko shouts with a wiggle, her guitar’s neck accidentally smacking into Amanda’s leg. 

“I think that was our best show yet!” Lotte squeals excitedly. “I think the crowd really liked us!” 

“Akko, please stop crushing me…” Sucy grunts. 

“Sorry!” 

The group separates from their hug and for a moment look over the crowd as they disperse from the stage front. They only watch for a moment before they all turn their attention to the side stage. 

Akko’s eyes land on Diana as she stands surrounded by her friends,!a soft smile on her face as she waits expectantly for the brunette to make her way over. 

“You’re up lady-killer.” Amanda says nodding at the blonde with a wink and lightly punching the brunette’s shoulder. 

“You’ve got this Akko.” Lotte smiles. 

“Just… try not to hurt anyone.” Sucy says as she tugs on the guitar strap over Akko’s shoulder, unlatching it and removing the guitar from around her torso. “Good luck... Not that you really need it though.” 

With a deep breath, Akko balls her fists, straightens her back and wills herself slowly towards the girl she wants nothing more than to run to. 

With each step closing their distance, Akko notices the slight fidgeting of Diana’s fingers at her sides and despite the warm smile on her face, there’s just… something… in the blonde’s eyes that she can’t quite decipher. 

“So, did you guys like the show?” Akko asks with a forced aloofness as she walks up to the three girls beside the curtain. 

“You guys were great!” Hannah beams giving the brunette another short bout of applause. 

“Yeah! So much energy!” Barbara chimes in as she fans her face. 

“Thank you…” Akko says with a grin and a blush before looking sheepishly at Diana. “Heh heh.” She clears her throat. “What uh...what did you think?” 

Worrying at her bottom lip, Diana looks deeply into crimson eyes for a short moment before letting her tense shoulders loosen. 

“I thought you were incredible...” Diana says softly. 

“Th-thank you. I’m gl-” 

“I also think…” Diana continues with a shaky breath, “I’d like to kiss you... No... I know it.” She says fighting for her courage with a set jaw, eyes not once leaving the brunette’s. “May I?” 

The whirling of butterflies kicking up in Akko’s chest rival what she imagines the rush of standing up in front of a crowd of millions would be. She can’t help the giant smile stretching across her face as she nods unknowingly before stepping closer and closer, eliminating the distance between them. Diana leans in, eyes fluttering closed, meeting her halfway. 

The moment their lips touch, all the questioning... all the worrying about the night of their movie date... the insecurity of worth...of time... of interest... of fear of rushing… and the risk of rejection... vanish as quickly as the world around them. Akko raises her arms, fluidly wrapping them around the blonde’s collar as Diana runs her hands over the brunette’s sides until her arms encircle the other girl’s waist, pulling her close. 

As the two willingly drown in the feeling of the embrace and lips of the other… after taking a few steps backwards to allow some breathing room (not that they think lessening their presence will make any difference), Hannah and Barbara hold one another, watching them with a giddiness not unlike the feeling one gets at the end of a satisfying romance film. The two girls nod their heads proudly at the blonde before giving one another a hi-five. 

“Hey, Hannah and Barbara right?” 

The two girls look away from the kissing couple to see Amanda walking towards them with a swagger in her step. She stops in front of them, glancing at them both before raising a sly eyebrow. 

“Now... I’m not sure if you two beautiful ladies would be up for it... but I will be hosting an _intimate_ encore performance later tonight if you’d be interested in a private show...” The redhead says smoothly with a confident wink. 

Slightly taken aback by the singer’s boldness, Hannah and Barbara raise their eyebrows and look to one another wide eyed and engaged in silent conversation. After a moment they shrug nonchalantly. 

“Sure.” Hannah says as she and Barbara separate and walk to either side of the redhead. 

“Just to warn you, we’re a rough crowd to entertain.” Barbara purrs, playfully running her hand down Amanda’s back. 

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll have you both singing along by the end of the night.” The spiky haired girl hums as she wraps an arm around each girl’s waist. 

“Oh… confident, are we?” Hannah says with a raised brow as she follows Barbara’s hand down Amanda’s back before intertwining her fingers between the raven-haired girl’s. 

“I _am_ a performer after all...” Amanda says huskily as the three of them walk away off stage. 

“So… are we the only ones cleaning up our gear or…?” Sucy drawls looking over at Lotte as she and Jasminka deconstruct her drum set while Constanze walks around deviously with as many cables as she can carry. “I accept Akko’s excuse… but where’s Amanda think she’s going?” 

Lotte can only shake her head with a blush as she zips her keyboard into its casing.

After a long moment, Akko and Diana slowly pull back from one another, making way for greedy panting to fill the new space between them. They stay there, lost in one another’s eyes as easy smiles make their way across each of their lips. 

It is only when a staff member carrying a speaker clears his throat in passing that the girls’ setting re-registers in their minds, reminding them that they are still very much in public. 

Upon the realization, the two retract their hands from one another and hesitantly shuffle backwards. 

“Well,” Diana says before clearing her throat, completely accepting of the bright pink tint across her pale cheeks. “Whoever that song is for is very lucky to have caught your attention.” 

Akko laughs with a roll of her eyes. She steps closer to the blonde, refilling the short-lived distance (nosy sound guys be damned), before placing a quick kiss on her cheek. “Flirt.” 

Diana looks down into ruby irises with a quirked smile on her lips, simply smitten with how _right_ the moment feels. “I am merely stating a fact.” 

The brunette pouts goofily at her before dramatically taking Diana’s hands in her own. “Well then... what do you think that person would say if I asked them to be my girlfriend?” It only takes a moment for her playful demeanor to shake in its stability from second guessing the unexpected confidence that was running through her. “I mean… if that’s okay, I don’t want to just assume you’d say ‘yes’… you know…and-” 

“Yes,” Diana stops her mid-sentence with a squeeze of her hands and a humored quirk of her brow. “I would be honored to be your girlfriend.” 

Akko lets out a sigh, trying and failing to convince the blonde how serious the relief in it is. “W-well, that’s good.” She says with a blush. “That would have been a _little_ embarrassing if you didn’t want to after the song… and… you know… the kiss.” 

“Perhaps.” The blonde says with a chuckle. “Though I assure you there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” 

There is a moment of panic where she mentally retracts her statement as she looks around for Hannah and Barbara... their teasing would surely be the most embarrassing that could come from the evening. To her surprise, as she looks around seeing no sight of either of them, she finds herself relieved to find that despite their enthusiasm, they had been thoughtful enough to give her and Akko some privacy in their moment. Though, she’s confident that she will hear their take on the evening’s events when they get back to the apartment she’s glad she doesn’t have to field any embarrassing remarks until later. 

Seeing that the risk of accidentally third and fourth wheeling her friends more than she already had was no longer a threat, Diana looks over to the brunette watching her curiously.

“Hey, you must be thirsty after all that singing… can I buy you a drink?” The blonde says with a chivalrous smile and a raised brow. 

“Only if you’ll let me buy one for you first.” Akko says with a wink, squeezing their hands. 

With fingers intertwined and the melody of the other’s laughter bounding through their ears louder than any speaker could afford, the brunette leads the blonde away from the hot beating lights of the stage and towards the bar. 

With as much potential as there is within music, they stand side by side at the beginning of a measure. As their eyes meet and the beating of hearts leads to an unexpected duet, at the raising of their drinks, the start of a new symphony begins with the harmony of the clink of glass. 

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back when I started writing part 1 in December of 2017 I honestly didn't expect to write a part 2, let alone a part 3, so... Thank you all so much for your love and support!  
> I hope you enjoyed the story and the artwork (and music if you took a listen) and got a few laughs!!! 
> 
> There were so many who were asking about a part 3, I hope it lived up!!! :D 
> 
> And one last thing, I'd like to thank tibbsgirl for bearing with my incessant complaining through the process of writing this third chapter, motivating me to get it done, and for being integral in helping me choose the title (it couldn't stay Bar/Band forever). It's been MONTHS and I really appreciate it and you for being there and inspiring me. You're an amazing writer and an even more amazing friend! Thank you ^_^
> 
> THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR READING!! I have no clue what's next... but if there is something, I'll see ya'll next time! 
> 
> With love,
> 
> \- Superevilbadguy


End file.
